Those were today’s results at the 2023 Huangguoshu CBSA event as well as the draw for the last 16 round, to be played tomorrow morning and afternoon local time.

Jack Lisowski was really poor in his match against Tu Xuan. I can only suppose that he suffered from heavy jet lag. His concentration was all over the place, the didn’t think clearly and his safety was terrible.

Mark Allen and Judd Trump on the other hand played really well. Yao Dongcheng showed some really good snooker and managed to win a frame against Mark. It was nice to see Mark taking time to speak to his young opponent. I couldn’t hear was Mark said but his body language and expressions suggest that he was congratulating and encouraging Yao.

Judd Trump made light work of his match. In frame 3 (or was it frame 2?) he potted ten reds with blacks but failed to get good position after splitting what was left of the pack and his maximum attempt ended at 80.

It was announced that fans would get the opportunity to take pictures with the players, and indeed, the stream remained active long enough to show them gathering near the players at the end of Judd’s match.

Stephen Hendry had been well beaten earlier in the day, but a video emerged of a short interview where he expresses his pleasure to be in China again after the hiatus caused by the covid crisis:

And some more pictures have emerged of course …

Kyren Wilson was particular impressed by the “Waterfalls light-show”. Some images of that spectacle are shown on the stream between matches … it is impressive and beautiful indeed.

Tomorrow evening (in China) the last 16 round will be played and it could well yield a Mark Williams v John Higgins QF as well as a Mark Allen v Kyren Wilson QF.

Mark Allen and Kyren Wilson have played each other 16 times and the head-to-head is 8-8. However Mark has won their last three encounters. Kyren hasn’t beaten him since 2018. (source Cuetracker.net)

As for Mark Williams and John Higgins, excluding 6-reds and premier league events, they have played each other 37 times, Higgins leading by 19-18 but it’s Williams who won their last encounter. Their head-to-head in finals is 4-4 … this could be interesting. (source Cuetracker.net)