This morning, the ** German Masters ended the first match day of the competition, and in the last 9-game battle, the 10-time champion Mark Allen won the reverse battle, narrowly defeated the Thai newcomer 5-4, and refused to roll over in the decisive game. The top16 lost 3 seats, and 5 games were born, Fu Jiajun got off to a good start, and beat Selby, the 4-crown champion of the World Championships, 5-1, which was unexpected.
Mark Allen is a famous player born in the 80s, only one World Championship away from the Grand Slam, and this season he has topped the championship and single-game limited-time tournaments respectively, reaching 10 ranking tournament titles. Switching to the German Masters, Xiao Gangcang almost overturned, and was suppressed by the world No. 122 Pemalek, and fell behind 3-4 in the first seven games. The 10-crown champion fought back, saved the match point 65-18 in the 8th game, and finally found his feel in the deciding game, and scored 100 points with a single stroke, defeating the Thai newcomer to advance to the second round.
The top 16 lost 3 seats, and the 3 world champions Selby, Murphy, and Brecel overturned. The grinding master is not in the state at all, 1-5 defeated the Chinese famous player and 3 champions Fu Jiajun, China's post-70s generation is not afraid of strong opponents, 3 strokes 60+ to solve the 22 champions, played the most burning battle of the New Year, and got off to a good start. Xu Si fell behind Grand Slam winner Murphy 0-3, and India's Chadha, who is only ranked 96th in the world, stopped Brecel 5-2 to create a super upset.
There were still two games to come, O'Connor defeated six-time champion Maguire 5-3 to fall behind 1-2. World No. 54 Jamie Clarke defeated world No. 47 Donaldson 5-3 to complete the final 54-50 in the eighth game. Donaldson's highlight was his three-game winning streak against Ding Junhui in 2020, but his performance since then has been tepid and he has never been able to enter the top ranks.