English Open Snooker: Chinese Players Finish 6-6, Wu Yize and Ding Junhui Advance

The third day of the English Open snooker tournament concluded this morning. In this round of matches, the Chinese contingent recorded six wins and six losses. Among them, two TOP16 players, Wu Yize and Ding Junhui, successfully advanced, while last year's runner-up Zhou Yuelong produced an impressive comeback under pressure. New Wuhan Open champion Chang Bingyu suffered a narrow 3-4 defeat to world champion Kyren Wilson after a fierce battle, while former champions Zhang Anda and Fan Zhengyi were also eliminated.

A total of 18 Chinese players competed in this tournament. Two TOP16 players, Zhao Xintong and Xiao Guodong, were unexpectedly knocked out, leaving only 12 players to progress through the first round. In the last-32 to last-16 stage, world champion Wu Yize defeated Xu Si 4-2 in an all-Chinese matchup, producing high breaks of 139, 111 and 87. He eventually secured advancement on his third match point. Ding Junhui also beat He Guoqiang 4-2 and produced two crucial single-frame high breaks during the match.

In addition, three matches in this round ended with 4-3 scorelines. Last year's runner-up Zhou Yuelong fought back from a 1-3 deficit and won three consecutive frames to overturn TOP16 player Jak Jones. Yuan Sijun trailed at one stage in his five-frame contest against Oliver Lines before completing a remarkable comeback, winning the deciding frame with a 66-point break. Pang Junxu scored breaks of 138 and 80 in his final battle against Ross Muir, eventually winning by a narrow 71-61 margin.

However, Xu Si and Luo Zetao both lost their all-Chinese matchup, while four other Chinese players were eliminated in matches against overseas opponents. Chang Bingyu, the new Wuhan Open champion, failed to maintain his form in the following matches and eventually lost 3-4 to 90s-born world champion Kyren Wilson, without producing a 50-plus break. Zhang Anda made two century breaks but lost 3-4 to Selby, missing out on advancement by 10 points in the deciding frame. Similarly, Fan Zhengyi lost 1-4 to McGill, while newcomer Wang Xinbo was defeated by Liam Davies and stopped after the fourth frame in a whitewash defeat.