2024-02-20 frankreport
This morning, Beijing time, the 2024 ** Players Championship ended the first day of competition at the Telford International Center in England, and the "Players Championship" only invited the top 16 players in a single season after the Welsh Open to participate, and the two matches played that day were Trump who ranked first in a single season against Wakelin, who ranked 16th in a single season; Ding Junhui, who ranked 6th in a single season, played against Higgins, who ranked 11th in a single season.
Trump, who has already achieved a "bumper harvest" that season, has shown his vigor again after winning 11 ranking tournaments in the 2021 season, and Trump's results so far in this season's ranking tournaments are: European Masters, World Grand Prix runner-up; English Open, Wuhan Open, Northern Ireland Open, German Masters champions, Trump will face 2023 single-game limited-time champion Wakelin (currently ranked 23rd) in the first round, which is also the second meeting between the two sides after last year's Northern Ireland Open final.
The game was 6 wins in 11 rounds, and at the beginning, Wakelin scored 120 points in a single stroke to take the lead, and before halftime, the two sides drew 2-2; After returning from the second half, Trump, who gradually entered the rhythm of scoring, won two games in a row to take the lead 4-2, and Trump, who began to control the whole game, then scored 67 points and 139 points in a single stroke to win two consecutive cities, thus defeating Wakelin 6-2 and advancing to the second round of the Players Championship, where he will face Tom. Forde and Ali. Carter is the winner.
Another first-round match played at the same time was between Ding Junhui and Higgins, for Ding Junhui, the relationship between him and Higgins was "also a teacher and a friend" and very familiar, Higgins opened the game with a single stroke of 102 points to show his determination to win, Ding Junhui immediately won two games in a row to establish a 2-1 advantage, but Higgins showed his previous calm and stability in the crucial fourth game, so as to equalize the score at 2-2 before halftime, Avoided the huge counter-attack pressure of being 1-3 down in the second half.
After returning in the second half, the unrelenting Ding Junhui scored 125 points to regain the lead 3-2, but at this time, Higgins, who stabilized his position, used defense to win in the next two games, so as to overtake the score again 4-3, Ding Junhui once again hit a single stroke 127 points at this time to re-tie the score to 4-4, in order to give Higgins psychological pressure, but the unmoved Higgins still won the chance with a more decisive attack in the next two games, Higgins scored 65 and 100 points in a row to defeat Ding Junhui with a total score of 6-4 to win the match, and Higgins will face the winner between Zhang Anda and Sancam in the second round.
The hard-fought win was crucial for Higgins, who had struggled for the last two seasons and won the 2021 Players Championship, and he recently began working with sports psychology experts in the hope of changing and breaking down the constraints imposed on him by his 48-year-old 'sporting age'.
From 21:00 Beijing time tonight to 03:00 tomorrow morning, the first round of the 2024 Players Championship will continue (6 wins in 11 games).
February 20, 21:00: Mark. Williams vs Mark. Allen, Gary. Wilson vs Wafai.
February 21 03:00: Tom. Forde vs Ali. Carter, O'Sullivan vs Zhou Yuelong.