The Masters welcomes 3 Chinese players for 3 consecutive years, Xiao Hui and Dai Fu Jiajun vs. Rockets
The official website of the China Billiards Association announced the 2017/18 Masters season. The prestigious invitational tournament will show three Chinese players for the third consecutive year. Among them, Ding Junhui played in the first round against Welsh player Ryan Day, who was in good shape recently, Fu Jiajun played against defending champion O’Sullivan, and Liang Wenbo’s opponent was Trump.
The Masters is an invitational tournament that is not included in the points ranking system. However, due to the super high prize money and the harsh competition system only open to the top 16 players in the world, its status is on the same level as the World Championships and the British Championships, and is regarded as the three traditional snooker tournaments. , Has become one of the important yardsticks to measure the lifetime achievement of players.
Ding Junhui has entered the finals of the Masters twice. In 2011, he won the championship after beating Fu Jiajun in the final Derby. This year, Ding Junhui will face the Welsh player Ryan Day in the first round, who squeezed onto the Masters bus with his excellent results in the top 4 of the British Championship.
Hong Kong star Fu Jiajun will face his number one rival O’Sullivan in the first round. The Masters is considered O’Sullivan’s back garden. He has reached the final 12 times in his career and has won 7 championships. In the past four years alone, O’Sullivan has won three championships and a top 4 in the Masters. Facing such a strong opponent, Fu Jiajun’s prospects are not optimistic.
At the just-concluded British Championships, O’Sullivan successively killed Gould and Maguire to help Liang Wenbo get out of the siege. Liang Wenbo was lucky to get the last Masters ticket. This is the third consecutive year that Liang Wenbo has appeared in the Masters in his career, and it is also the third consecutive year that three Chinese players have appeared in the Masters. However, in the past two years, Liang Wenbo did not win a game, and it was Higgins and O’Sullivan that led to his round trip. Whether Liang Wenbo can end his losing streak from Trump at the Masters is worth looking forward to.
In terms of other players, the Belgian star Brechel, who has qualified for the Masters for the first time, will face “Little Steel Gun” Mark Allen in the first round. The world’s No. 1 Selby confronts Mark Williams, who has just returned from the Northern Ireland Open. Higgins and McGill joined forces to contribute to the Scottish Civil War. In addition, Sean Murphy played Ali Carter and Barry Hawkins played Karen Wilson.
According to the schedule, this season’s Masters will be held from January 14th to 21st, 2018 at Alexandra Palace, London, England.