Judd Trump has beaten John Higgins by 5-1 to win the 2023 CBSA Huangguoshu Event.

Congratulations Judd Trump!

Earlier today, the semi finals were played and here are the results, with frames scores:

Kyren will be gutted because he dominated the early stages of the match and he had a clear opportunity to win by 4-2. He was unlucky with a split of the pack in frame 6: he went in-off if I remember correctly, or maybe he knocked in a red accidentally, I’m not sure anymore. Anyway, he committed a foul, Judd came back at the table and the rest is history

Here are a couple of images of the Yuan v Higgins match

The final was a one-sided affair. It was played as a best of 9, without interval.

Here are some images of the ceremony, and Judd’s press conference, most of them shared on weibo, plus some shared by Victoria Shi on twitter

John Higgins had some consolation as he won the HB prize, for a 143.

The video below, shared by a fan and taken from their seat in the audience shows the final minutes of that 143 break. It was made during the first frame of his SF match in today’s first session.

Two rounds were played today in Huangguoshu, the last 16 and the QFs.

Here is what happened and what awaits us tomorrow

Thanks to a Chinese fan I follow on weibo …

Here are some of the detailed scores:

From yesterday…

And today – Judd Trump last 16 and the QFs

Zhao Hanyang was the only quarter-finalist who isn’t a main tour professional player.

The score of the Wilson v Allen match surprised me a bit.

Also some images of the venue and action

From this, it seems that the main table is in one room and the three other tables in another room. Both room with seats for spectators. The main table has seats on three sides.

I didn’t see much of today’s action. Judd Trump looked very strong against Cao Yupeng.

Today’s results and tomorrow’s draw

The round of 64 concluded today in Huangguoshu and here are today’s results

Overall matches went as expected. Ryan Day is the only UK professional players who failed to reach the second round. That said it was far from straightforward for Stephen Hendry who won on the last pink in the decider. Stephen will not be happy with his performance, but his fans will be happy to see him fight the way he did and not surrender to frustration. The other match I watched was “a walk in the park” as Kyren Wilson totally dominated his young opponent from Hong Kong.

The round of 32 will be played to a conclusion tomorrow. The matches are still best of 7. Here is the draw:

There are some interesting matches there… Kyren Wilson’s opponent, Li Yan has been competing on the main tour from 2011 to 2014. His professional career was probably not as successful as it could have been because of some very serious health issues. I’m glad that he’s able to play again.

Some Shanghai Masters related news …

These informations come from weibo.

After some problems with the preparation all is well: it has been confirmed that the 2023 Shanghai Masters will go ahead, starting on 11th of September, 2023, at the Wanti Stadium. The list of referees for the event has been announced as well. Two popular female referees, Zhou Ying and Peggy Li (Li An), will officiate at the event.

Also this poster has been shared…

This exhibition event is scheduled on the 9th of September, 2023, featuring Ronnie, Jimmy, Zhou Yuelong and Bai Yulu. This is good news in more ways than just one… it means that Ronnie will travel to Shanghai early and, hopefully, will be able to get over the worse of the jet lag before the tournament starts. Ronnie is the defending champion.

I’m not sure where they found the pictures but that’s a very young Ronnie on that poster !!!

The first event in China since the covid crisis, involving non-Chinese professionals, got underway today in Huangguoshu, a place renowned for its beautiful and spectacular waterfalls.

All the players arrived safely over the previous days and were made to feel very welcome.

Here are some photos and videos – notably shared by Victoria Shi and Jack Lisowski.

And some short videos also emerged on Chinese social media

But today things got serious …

Indeed 16 of the 32 matches of the round of 64 were played as well as a preliminary match between two wildcards. Here are today’s results:

The TV matches are streamed. I was able to watch the Mark Williams and Judd Trump matches.

Nothing seems to phase Willo who didn’t look like he suffered any jet-lag or fatigue from the trip: his 4-0 victory was as easy as it gets.

I had high expectations about the match between Judd Trump and Bai Yulu. Too high probably because I found it very disappointing. Judd was probably tired and didn’t play anywhere near his best and that’s an understatement. Bai Yulu however didn’t take advantage. She was probably quite nervous and overwhelmed to play on television against a top pro, I’m sure she played much better in the Q-School than she did today. She was poor really, her safety in particular was … not very safe. As a result she gave Judd any number of opportunities, some he took, some he squandered But eventually Judd won the match rather easily.