Saudi Arabia Snooker Masters Day Four: O’Connor To Face Rocket In Jeddah
Joe O’Connor looks set to provide a tough test for Ronnie O’Sullivan in the last 32 of the Saudi Arabia Snooker Masters having whitewashed Sanderson Lam 5-0 in round four.
O’Connor was runner-up in the Championship League earlier in the season and will feel confident of his chances ahead of a clash with fans’ favourite O’Sullivan on Tuesday night in Jeddah. Breaks of 97, 69 and 112 helped O’Connor to put Lam to the slaughter.
“I am playing solid this season, though I feel there are plenty of gears to come,” said Leicester’s O’Connor. “I have been taking chances and not missing easy balls. This could be the season where I do really well and lift my first trophy. I come to every tournament trying to win it.
“Ronnie is the best ever, he has always been the main man in snooker. He’s a pleasure to watch when he is on form. I enjoy taking on the top players on centre stage, I don’t hide away from the headlights.”
Stephen Maguire built on his excellent start to the season by beating close friend Anthony McGill 5-0 with breaks of 52, 128, 81, 52, 64 and 64 to book a tie with Ding Junhui. “That was the best I have played this season by a mile,” said Glasgow’s Maguire, who won the first ranking event of the campaign at the Championship League. “We can all play – Anthony could have done that to me on another tonight. When you win matches you gain confidence and enjoy it more. The big boys come into it now but maybe I can still compete with them.“
Ben Woollaston again proved his ability to knock out higher ranked players as he edged out Jack Lisowski 5-4 to set up a match with Neil Robertson. Woollaston finished last season by beating Mark Selby at the Crucible, which he described as the best win of his career so far. And today the Leicester cueman came from 2-0 down to get the better of Lisowski with a top break of 63.
“Jack played better than me but I stole a few frames on the pink and black,” said Woollaston. “Beating Mark (at the Crucible) gave me a lot of confidence in my safety play in particular. I know I need to score heavier, if I score well then I can beat anyone because I will always create chances. I have put extra effort into that, I know if I want to be a top 16 player then I need to improve.”
Thepchaiya Un-Nooh followed up Sunday’s 147 heroics by beating former Crucible finalist Jak Jones 5-1. After losing the first frame, Thailand’s Un-Nooh rattled in runs of 57, 67, 95, 110 and 103 as he set up an intriguing clash with Shaun Murphy.
China’s Yuan Sijun remains unbeaten in ranking event matches so far this season as he thrashed Stan Moody 5-0 with top breaks of 89 and 65. Oliver Lines top scored with 106 as he beat Noppon Saengkham 5-2 to set up a tie with friend Judd Trump.
Elliot Slessor enjoyed a superb comeback from 4-1 down to beat Lan Yuhao 5-4, while Wu Yize looked sharp in a 5-1 win over Matthew Stevens, firing runs of 73, 105, 124, 73 and 95.
Steven Hallworth secured his highest ever pay day of £20,000 by beating Zhou Yuelong. Hallworth is one of four players who have made it from round one to reach the last 32, alongside Pakistan’s Farakh Ajaib, China’s Chang Bingyu and Ukraine’s Iulian Boiko.
I’m very happy for Ben Woollaston whose career was badly impacted by health issues after the pandemic as he suffered from “long covid” but at the same time I’m extremely frustrated by Jack Lisowski’s inability to do justice to his incredible talent. Of course, Jack suffered from cancer as a teenager, a terrible ordeal, and none of us know what “scars” this illness, and the real prospect of possibly losing his life so very young, have left on his mind and body. We shouldn’t judge but when one watches him in full flow, he makes it look so easy and effortless and then, so often, the odd silly mistake happens out of nowhere …
I’m also happy for Iulian Boiko. It feels like he’s been around for a very long time. I remember him playing at the South West Snooker Academy, a place that closed after the 2019 Pink Ribbon. He was just a child, he’s only 19 now. We should remember how young he still is. Far too much was expected from him, far too early. And, also, the situation in his country must weight on his mind. Every match won is more than just a victory at the table.
Ronnie enters the fray today and faces Joe O’Connor. That won’t be easy!
Snooker’s youngest ever professional Michal Szubarczyk made it back-to-back wins at the Saudi Arabia Snooker Masters by beating Bulcsu Revesz 4-3 to reach round three in Jeddah.
Poland’s Szubarczyk, age 14 years and seven months, joined the tour earlier this year after winning the under-16 and under-18 titles at the EBSA European Championship as well as reaching the final of the senior event, prompting Mark Williams to describe him as “one of the best 14-year-olds I’ve seen in my life”.
Having lost his first handful of matches as a pro, he scored his maiden win on Friday, 4-2 against Ryan Davies, and followed up today with a fine display against Revesz, highlighted by a break of 93 in frame four.
“I feel very proud of myself because many people would say I was the underdog today,” said Szubarczyk. “I played a very good match. I was a bit nervous in the last frame but not that much. The standard on the tour is very difficult. I need to improve my safety and I need to stop getting angry when I miss. I am improving.”
Reanne Evans continued her tremendous start to the season with a 4-2 defeat of Liam Davies. Evans has now won four out of four knockout ranking event matches this term, beating David Lilley, Lan Yuhao and Kreishh Gurbaxani. The 12-time World Women’s Champion top scored with 84 today as she set up a blockbuster tie with Jack Lisowski on Sunday afternoon.
Stan Moody produced a tremendous finish to beat Liam Highfield 4-3, making back-to-back centuries in the last two frames from 3-2 down. Highfield earlier made a 122 in taking a narrow lead, but 18-year-old Moody fired 130 and 109 at the business end.
Steven Hallworth beat Michael Holt 4-3 in a dramatic finish as the deciding frame came down to the last two balls. Holt eventually made a safety error on the pink and Hallworth slotted it into a centre pocket. Ben Mertens made an 87 in the decider to beat Ross Muir 4-3 while Aaron Hill won an all-Cork derby with Leone Crowley 4-1.
Sam Craigie continued his successful return from a long-term absence due to a neck injury as he thrashed Mark Davis 4-0 with top breaks of 93, 122 and 104.
“Thankfully I can play my best stuff again,” said Craigie. “I missed out on this event last year and I was devastated. In practice I feel better than ever, and today was the first time I have shown that in a match.”
Ukraine’s top player Iulian Boiko scored a 4-1 victory over Zak Surety in the second round of the Saudi Arabia Snooker Masters, underlining his potential as starts his second spell on tour.
Boiko first turned pro at the age of just 14 in 2020 and spent two years on tour before being relegated. After a spell in the amateur ranks, he regained his tour card this year with victory in the European Under-21 Championship. The19-year-old will be looking to climb the rankings this season and tonight’s result was a step forward as he comfortably beat Surety, one of last season’s most improved players. His next test is against Jackson Page on Sunday.
“It feels great, I played a good match,” said Boiko, who fired breaks of 57, 54, 54, 53 and 51. “This season I am planning to play more practice matches, especially against the top players. I used to mainly practise solo which meant I didn’t learn enough from other players, so that’s the main thing I am trying to change.”
Latvia’s Artemijs Zizins beat Ken Doherty 4-3 in a tense finish. The decider came down to the last red and Doherty went for a tough long pot, missed his target and sent the cue ball in-off, handing Zizins the chance to score the points he needed.
Belgium’s Julien Leclercq earned a 4-1 success against Umut Dikme while Allan Taylor made a 62 in the decider to beat Mohamed Shehab 4-3.
Thailand’s tour rookie Chatchapong Nasa was docked the opening frame of his match against David Lilley for arriving late to the table, but still hit back to win 4-3, taking the decider by potting brown, blue and pink.
The young players from mainland Europe are clearly improving. Yesterday, all of them but two, Bulcsú Révész and Umut Dikme, won their match and the two who lost were facing another young player from mainland Europe…
Artemijs Zizins beat Ken Doherty by 4-3. Ken isn’t the player he was, of course, but he remains a very shrewd opponent at the table and someone every young player can learn a lot from.
Julien Leclercq cue hadn’t arrived and he was playing with Liam Pullen’s cue1. Steven Hallworth, in commentary, reflected that for someone as tall as Julien it’s not easy to find and borrow a cue “long enough” to “fit” him… indeed it isn’t. Ben Mertens had beaten Ross Muir by the same score earlier in the day.
Reanne Evans also progressed, with a good 4-2 win over Liam Davies. She won the last three frames of the match and finished with a good 84, the only big break of the encounter. It’s worth noting that Reanne has won all four “straight knock-out” matches she’s played this season so far. She now faces Jack Lisowksi…
One player I really like, Sunny Akani was beaten heavily by Louis Heathcote. Louis scored well in that match: he had breaks of 94, 104 and 50 to finish the job. Interestingly, I read somewhere that Ronnie is currently playing with a cue made by Sunny … The two of them get along well, so maybe that was a natural choice, but I had no idea Sunny was making cues.
Yesterday was the first day of the very lucrative tournament in Jeddah and the least that can be said is that it didn’t run smoothly. The scoring system suffered all sorts of weird hiccups, with tables shown on stream “adorned” with completely fantasist scores, or scores from another table … Maybe it was the mood of the day as there was a “carnival” going on in my village 😂
During the evening session of Friday August 8th at the Saudi Arabia Snooker Masters, we have experienced technical issues. We have therefore postponed all matches in this session which were yet to start until Saturday morning. These matches will commence at 10am on Saturday and play to a finish in an untelevised session. We are now working on resolving the technical issues before play resumes. We would like to thank all of the players involved for their understanding.
The postponed matches are:
Farakh Ajaib v Saud Albaker Louis Heathcote v Ayman Alamri Mohamed Shehab v Abdullah Alotayyani Liam Graham v Asif Mukhtar Oliver Brown v Patrick Whelan Yao Pengcheng v Alexander Ursenbacher Fergal Quinn v Mahmoud El Hareedy
Other than that there were some interesting results yesterday. Here are the reports shared by WST:
Reanne Evans made it three wins out of three in knockout matches so far this season as she beat Kreishh Gurbaxani 4-2 in the opening round of the Saudi Arabia Snooker Masters in Jeddah.
The £2.3million tournament got underway with a spectacular opening ceremony, before 12-time World Women’s Champion Evans stole the show with an impressive win over India’s Gurbaxani. Having already beaten David Lilley and Lan Yuhao to qualify for both the Wuhan Open and British Open, in-form Evans is unbeaten in knockout ranking event matches this term. She will meet Liam Davies on Saturday afternoon for a place in round three of the season’s first major.
“First up on the match table can be daunting, we were both edgy at the start, then I found a bit of rhythm and fell over the line,” said Evans, who won two frames on the final black and sealed victory in the sixth with an excellent long pot on the pink. “I am trying to relax more this season, just trying to play rather than trying to win. There are good and bad days but I’ve had three good ones so far. It’s great to experience new places and I have won so I’m enjoying it! Hopefully I can play better in the next round.”
Canada’s Sahil Nayyar scored his first win as a pro, beating Habib Sabah 4-1 with a top break of 57. Poland’s Michael Szubarczyk, the youngest ever pro at 14, also scored his maiden win with a 4-2 success against Ryan Davies, top scoring with 68 and 56.
Dylan Emery let slip a 3-0 lead against Florian Nuessle, but eventually cleared from blue to black in the decider to win 4-3. Egypt’s Hesham Shawky became the first of the 16 wild cards to make round two as he beat Jiang Jun 4-2.
Steven Hallworth eased to a 4-0 win over Saudi Arabia’s top player Omar Alajlani with a top break of 54. He said: “Last year I was working on the TV team but looking at the players with envy wanting to be out there. It’s amazing to be a part of it and to get a win under my belt. The venue is exceptional, even the outside tables feel like TV tables.”
Ken Doherty beat fellow all-time great Jimmy White 4-1 in their first ranking event meeting in 15 years to reach round two of the Saudi Arabia Snooker Masters.
The two legends of the baize, with 80 years experience on the tour between them, first met in a ranking event back in 1991, and today 34 years later clashed again in the opening round in Jeddah. Ireland’s Doherty dominated, firing breaks of 96, 59 and 64 as he set up a fixture with Artemijs Zizins on Saturday.
“I remember the first time I played Jimmy, I was nervous as a kitten. It’s always a great occasion, I never get tired of it,” said the 1997 World Champion, age 55. “I have played him in great finals. I have had some wonderful times with him, he is a good friend. I’m delighted that tonight it went my way. Tonight might have been our last ever match in a ranking event so I relish moments like this.
“I was excited tonight. I settled in quickly and made a nice break in the second frame. Jimmy has been an incredible ambassador for snooker. To see him at the age of 63, he still has the appetite and the hunger, it’s magnificent. It’s a lesson for all the young lads coming into the game. After all he has been through, and having been a hero and inspiration to a lot of players, he is still going.”
Thailand’s Chatchapong Nasa top scored with 104 in a 4-0 win over Fahad Alghamdi. China’s Chang Bingyu edged out Marco Fu 4-3, while Ukraine’s Iulian Boiko saw off Liu Wenwei 4-2. German amateur Umut Dikme enjoyed a 4-1 victory over Mink Nutcharut.
For some reason Mink struggled really badly yesterday evening. It was painful to watch. Maybe she was only just return from Thailand and still jet-lagged?
I’m very happy to see some good results by mainland Europe players. Well done Florian and Michal.
Yesterday was the first day of the very lucrative tournament in Jeddah and the least that can be said is that it didn’t run smoothly. The scoring system suffered all sorts of weird hiccups, with tables shown on stream “adorned” with completely fantasist scores, or scores from another table… Maybe it was the mood of the day as there was a “carnival” going on in my village 😂
During the evening session of Friday August 8th at the Saudi Arabia Snooker Masters, we have experienced technical issues. We have therefore postponed all matches in this session which were yet to start until Saturday morning. These matches will commence at 10am on Saturday and play to a finish in an untelevised session. We are now working on resolving the technical issues before play resumes. We would like to thank all of the players involved for their understanding.
The postponed matches are:
Farakh Ajaib v Saud Albaker Louis Heathcote v Ayman Alamri Mohamed Shehab v Abdullah Alotayyani Liam Graham v Asif Mukhtar Oliver Brown v Patrick Whelan Yao Pengcheng v Alexander Ursenbacher Fergal Quinn v Mahmoud El Hareedy
Other than that there were some interesting results yesterday. Here are the reports shared by WST:
The 2025 Saudi Masters starts in Jeddah in less than two days, with a massive 500000 pounds prize money foe the winner … one could imagine that the players would be happy, although, of course some other sports offer much more and the distribution of the prize money in snooker is way too to heavy. A lot of lower ranked players do really struggle, that can’t be denied.
Still … the news today, shared by the BBC, caught me completely by surprise:
New association gives players ‘stronger voice’ – Higgins
Dan Roan Sports editor – Jamie Broughton BBC 5 Live snooker reporter
6 August 2025, 00:01 BST
A new independent association for leading snooker players will give them “a stronger voice” and could be “massive” for the growth of the game, according to its chairman John Higgins.
The four-time world champion is a director of the Professional Snooker Players Association (PSPA), which says it is launching to “champion the sport”.
“We feel as though we’ve not been listened to as we should have been in recent years“, Higgins told BBC Sport.
“The game has not moved forward with the times compared to other top sports.
“Snooker deserves a strong, independent players’ association that stands for fairness, transparency, and progress.”
The association also claims the governance of snooker “should factor in more of the views of the players“.
It has vowed to foster a “collaborative relationship” with the sport’s authorities, including the World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association (WPBSA), the existing WPBSA Players’ Board, and World Snooker Tour “to enhance the sport’s future, while safeguarding player welfare and commercial interests“.
The PSPA says it has established a players board comprising of Judd Trump, Kyren Wilson, Mark Selby, Barry Hawkins, Shaun Murphy, Ali Carter, Gary Wilson, Stuart Bingham, Jack Lisowski, Stephen Maguire, Mark Allen, Ryan Day and Joe Perry. Another player – Matthew Selt – has been appointed a director, alongside lawyers Ben Rees and Mark Kenkre.
The association also claims that seven-time world champion Ronnie O’Sullivan has agreed to become a member, along with Chinese stars Ding Junhui and Xiao Guodong.
“I’ve had lots of discussions with Ronnie” said Higgins. “He’s really excited about it, so it’s full steam ahead.”
The fact so many of the top players are behind the new body suggests some feel they do not have enough say in the running of the World Snooker Tour (WST), particularly the commercial side.
During the 2024 World Championship, the headlines at the Crucible were dominated by talk of a potential breakaway tour. This came after the game’s top players were approached to play in lucrative events in China and North America as part of a potential breakaway circuit.
Professional players sign a contract which does not allow them to compete in any outside events while WST tournaments are being played, unless they are events sanctioned by the WST, although players have recently negotiated more flexibility.
However, the WST has been increasing the amount of prize money in the game, and is preparing to stage the sport’s “fourth major” in Saudi Arabia with a prize pot of more than £2m. The second Saudi Arabia Snooker Masters will take place later this week in Jeddah.
The WPBSA’s own players’ body was formed in 2020, and the governing body says it has “a specific mandate to act in the collective best interest of members in relation to welfare and issues affecting the professional game.”
It says that it “acts as a channel for member concerns and provides a platform whereby issues surrounding their wellbeing can be raised at the highest levels by the WPBSA Players Board.”
The PSPA says it has been formed with expert guidance from leading sports law professionals, and that its key objectives include legal and commercial support to protect players’ rights in sponsorship, broadcasting, and contractual matters
So… let’s be clear about what this is NOT. It’s not a breakaway tour. This is a player association created to give the players more power than the current WPBSA/WST structures allow them to exert. It is interesting that John Higgins is leading this. He’s not exactly someone who is perceive as a “rebel” and he has the support of a lot of top players. Interestingly Ronnie and Ding are somewhat sitting on the fence… 1
At the heart of this development sits the fact that players are NOT WST or WPBSA employees. They are self-employed with a temporary job agreement with WST/WPBSA. That job agreement is rather restrictive when it comes to what they can do “outside” the agreement. They can’t, for instance, play in any snooker event, even exhibitions, when one of the WST events is on, and even if they are not involved in it, unless they get WST “green light” … which apparently isn’t that easy to get. We have seen that last season when top players got in trouble for playing “high profile” exhibitions in Asia, whilst qualifiers, which they were exempt from, were underway in the UK. How many of those who went to watch those exhibitions would actually have watched the streamed qualifiers if the exhibitions had not been organised? Very, very few IMO. How many “new fans” do these streamed qualifiers generate? Very, very few if any at all2. On the other hand, high-profile exhibitions and tournaments with big names in them do attract new fans.
that hasn’t stopped some media to make Ronnie the headline of their piece about this development … click-baits are clearly more important to them than truth and accuracy. ↩︎
quite the opposite. A lot of those qualifying matches are turgid affairs. They are very important to the players involved with a lot at stake for them, and they will interest hard-core fans who are deeply into the game … but not young kids nor casual viewers. ↩︎
Kyren Wilson has beaten Ali Carter by 11-9 to become the 2025 Shanghai Masters Champion
Congratulations Kyren Wilson!
The Final was a very high quality match featuring seventeen breaks over 50 including four centuries, one by Ali, a 140, the highest break of the match and three by Kyren, 105, 122 and 129.
Kyren Wilson triumphed 11-9 in a pulsating title match with Ali Carter to lift the Shanghai Masters trophy for a second time, ten years on from his first.
World number two Wilson admitted that he was desperate to avoid a decider after flagging following a gruelling weekend of snooker, having already beaten World Champion Zhao Xintong 10-5 yesterday.
The penultimate frame swung one way then another. Trailing on the last red, the Warrior fired in a stunning long ball to set up a clearance of 32, which saw him steal the frame on the final ball. After potting the black, he fist pumped and roared with delight in front of a packed Shanghai crowd.
The city holds special memories for 33-year-old Wilson, who captured his maiden ranking title here back in 2015, beating Judd Trump 10-9 in another epic tussle. Fast forward ten years and the event has evolved into one of the most prestigious invitational prizes in the sport, with Wilson pocketing £210,000 for victory.
Wilson looks set for another massive season after enjoying his best ever title haul in 24/25. Having won the World Championship in 2024, he went on to win four ranking crowns to take his current tally to ten. However, the campaign ended in devastation after a 10-9 loss to Lei Peifan at the first hurdle of his Crucible title defence.
After a summer of pondering that defeat, he has bounced straight back in spectacular fashion here in Shanghai. A narrow 6-5 win over Si Jiahui in his first match was followed up by a 6-3 win over seven-time World Champion Ronnie O’Sullivan, before this weekend’s wins over Zhao and Carter.
The final proved to be a bridge too far in a week of comebacks for 46-year-old Carter. He rallied from 5-2 down to beat Mark Williams and Xiao Guodong, before defeating Mark Selby 10-8 from 8-6 down. He couldn’t quite overhaul Wilson in the title match.
Carter can still reflect fondly on a tournament he wasn’t even originally in. Ranked 17th in the world he had just missed out on qualification, before a late withdrawal from Mark Allen handed him a spot.
Wilson enjoyed the better start this evening, with runs of 48 and 105 helping him to a 7-5 cushion. In keeping with the rest of the match, the resilient Carter replied with contributions of 76 and 35 helping him to make it 7-7 heading into the last interval of the tournament.
When play got back underway, breaks of 66 and 122 helped Wilson to a 9-7 advantage, but a stunning 140 from Carter pulled him back within one. Wilson had an opportunity in the next, after his opponent had made 27. However, he unexpectedly spurned a middle range red and Carter crafted 63 to make it 9-9.
A contribution of 86 gave Wilson the 19th to move one from victory at 10-9, before he claimed victory on the black in that dramatic 20th frame.
“I knew I had to take out that clearance at the end. Fatigue was starting to slip in. I didn’t want to face Ali in a final frame because his success rate in deciders this week has been fantastic. He is a great champion and made it really difficult all day long. I had to summon up every ounce of concentration and composure to drop that long red in and clear up. I held myself together and then you saw all of the emotions
Kyren Wilson
World Number Two
Wilson added: “This is the biggest Chinese event we have and with the snooker market growing and growing it is important to try and land these titles. I was just starting to fatigue towards the end and to pot the red and clear up was a massive feather in my cap.
“It was a huge kick in the teeth going out in the first round of the World Championship. I don’t have that world title tag anymore. But I’ve carried on in the same form. It is important to kick off the season in good fashion. This sets me up nicely for what is to come. I’ve had to wait a long time to get going again in professional competition, but this was definitely worth the wait.”
Carter said: “It was a really tough game. I felt I hung in there all day. I didn’t feel I played particularly great, but I was pleased to compete with a World Champion like Kyren. I felt if I’d had a bit of a tailwind at some point I’d have probably won. It wasn’t to be in the end.
“For a substitute, I think I did alright! I got through to the final. I was 5-2 down to Mark Williams and I didn’t miss a ball for four frames. I was 5-2 down to Xiao and 8-6 down to Selby. It is pleasing to get to another final. As a sportsman it is all about winning though. All being told I didn’t even know I was going to be here. If someone had said when Mark Allen withdrew I was going to get to the final, I’d have absolutely taken it.”
World number two Kyren Wilson produced a session clean sweep to overhaul World Champion Zhao Xintong and prevail 10-5 to reach the Shanghai Masters final.
The 33-year-old proceeds to his second final in this prestigious event, which is a significant tournament in the history of his career. He last lifted silverware in Shanghai back in 2015, when he beat Judd Trump 10-9 to claim his first ever ranking title.
Fast forward ten years and the Shanghai Masters is now one of the sport’s most prestigious invitational prizes. Tomorrow, 2024 World Champion Wilson will have the chance to win the tournament in its present format for the first time. He faces Ali Carter over 21 frames for the £210,000 top prize. The Warrior hasn’t lost to Carter since the 2015 Australian Open.
Wilson has enjoyed a tremendous run to the title match, having scored a hard fought 6-5 win over Si Jiahui to start, before beating Ronnie O’Sullivan 6-3 in the quarters.
Zhao was afforded a hero’s reception this week, returning for his maiden tournament in his homeland since becoming China’s first World Champion in May. He put on fine performances to dispatch Chris Wakelin and legendary compatriot Ding Junhui. The Cyclone hadn’t been beaten since defeat to Shaun Murphy at the UK Championship last November. However, today proved a step too far.
The result is a continuation of the “Ding Curse”. The last 21 times Ding has been beaten on the World Snooker Tour, his opponent has then lost in the following round. The last player to overcome this was Robbie Williams at the 2024 Welsh Open.
Wilson and Zhao came into this evening’s session after a fiercely contested afternoon, which saw 28-year-old Zhao emerge with a slender 5-4 lead.
When play resumed, breaks of 70 and 101 saw Wilson quickly wrest the lead. There was then a 36-minute 11th, which saw Wilson make it 7-5 and he took the last before the mid-session to move just two from victory.
Wilson carried his momentum through the interval and went on to seal victory by taking the following two frames.
“The crowd were massively on Zhao Xintong’s side. That is to be expected, he is an absolute hero in China. I knew it was going to be tough but settled quite early and found my feet,” said ten-time ranking event winner Wilson.
“It is tough. We’ve experienced it playing Ding Junhui many times and now Zhao is the new local favourite if you like. Snooker in China is booming and you can feel an extra air of expectation every time Zhao turns up for a game. I knew I had to play well and shut that out.
“Ali has battled through some really tough matches. That is what he does best. He is a determined and gritty character. I’m going to have to really dig in tomorrow and play some of the best snooker I have in the last 18 months.
“This event seems to get bigger each year. It is really important for me in my career to try and make the most of snooker booming. The Shanghai Masters is the showpiece event in China now. Ten years on it would be lovely to win this event again.”
It’s fair to say that Zhao Xintong had a nightmare second session today, for whatever reason(s). Was it pressure? Was it the sudden realisation of how much the Chinese fans were expecting from him? Was it just tiredness? We will probably never know for sure. But it was strange and painful to watch.
