Snooker English Open: Ding Junhui Reaches Ranking Event Quarterfinals for First Time This Season

On September 11 Beijing time, the third round (round of 16) of the Snooker English Open concluded. Two of the six Chinese players advanced to the quarterfinals, with Ding Junhui defeating Joe O'Connor 4-1 and Zhou Yuelong coming from behind to beat Yuan Sijun 4-2. Gong Chenzhi, Wu Yize and Pang Junxu were defeated by their respective opponents and exited in the last 16.

Ding Junhui faced home player Joe O'Connor in this round. The two players split the first two frames before Ding won three consecutive frames to secure a 4-1 victory and advance to the quarterfinals. Ding made three breaks over 50 points (59, 51 and 80) during the match, showing a clear improvement in his attacking form. This was Ding's first victory over O'Connor, ending a previous two-match losing streak. It was also his first three-match winning run of the season and his first appearance in a ranking event quarterfinal this season. After the match, Ding calmly said: “I hope every shot I play can go as I want. It doesn't matter who I play against.”

“Today I played with good clarity, and I handled both attack and defense relatively well,” Ding said. “Even when there were mistakes in defense, I did not give my opponent too many chances. I was probably a little lucky.”

In the quarterfinals, Ding Junhui will face Kyren Wilson. Wilson eliminated Mark Selby 4-3 in the last 16. Looking ahead to the match against Wilson, Ding said he needs to maintain solid defense while being more decisive in attack and making full use of his technical ability to “put pressure on his opponent.”

In a previously completed all-Chinese matchup, Zhou Yuelong produced breaks of 72, 141 and 54, while Yuan Sijun made a 56. Trailing 1-2, Zhou won three straight frames to defeat Yuan 4-2 and advance to the quarterfinals. Zhou's 141 break also surpassed Yuan's previous tournament-high break of 140.

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So far in this tournament, Zhou Yuelong has won three consecutive frames after falling behind in each of his three matches, completing comebacks every time. After his match against Yuan Sijun, he explained the reason behind his repeated recoveries. “I have started slowly throughout this English Open, with many early mistakes. I felt my eyes had difficulty adapting to the venue lighting at the start of matches, and my judgment of the cut angles was consistently off. Many shots looked fine to me, but I made mistakes after striking the cue ball. I needed one or two frames, or even three, to adapt to the lighting and make adjustments. After adjusting, the simple mistakes became fewer.”

Zhou Yuelong's next opponent will be Ali Carter, who defeated Chinese player Gong Chenzhi 4-2 in this round. World champion Wu Yize struggled on the day, losing 1-4 to Liam Davies. Another Chinese player, Pang Junxu, went the full seven frames against Shaun Murphy before narrowly losing 3-4.

The other two quarterfinal matchups will see Davies face veteran Mark Williams, while Murphy will take on Judd Trump.

Compiled from reports