A new season of sports
On March 5, Beijing time, the 2024 Riyadh Carnival Season Masters ended the first day of competition, with Ding Junhui, Higgins, Mark Williams, Ali Carter and other celebrities appearing. Ding Junhui passed the preliminaries, but lost to the 44-year-old veteran Ali Carter in the first round and missed the quarterfinals. Even so, Ding Junhui, who was not qualified for the competition, still picked up 2 in vainWith a bonus of 50,000 pounds, the trip to Saudi Arabia was very rewarding.
The tournament was originally intended to invite the world's top eight players to participate, but the format was changed to include the world's top 10 players, with Ding Junhui and Higgins catching the last train. Many experts said that considering that Ding Junhui, as the first brother in Asia, has a strong influence in the field of Asian billiards, it is a change in the competition system for Ding Junhui. However, such a statement is only speculation, and there is no explanation from the officials or the player himself.
In the end, the tournament was contested by the top 10 players in the world rankings plus two wild card players. Ding Junhui and Higgins both have to play in the preliminaries round against wild card players, and only through the preliminaries round can they have a chance to hit the quarterfinals. The strength of the two wild card players is indeed very average, Ding Junhui scored two 66 points, defeated Saudi Arabia's Al-Arajlani with a score of 4-0, and successfully advanced to the first round against Ali Carter. John Higgins hit a 100 shot and two 50+ shots to beat wildcard Arobedli of Qatar 4-0 to advance to the first round.
The first game of the first round was played by Ding Junhui against Ali Carter, Ding Junhui got off to a good start, and scored 138 points in a single stroke, but Ali Carter then won three games in a row and got the match point 3-1. Ding Junhui scored 75 points and 120 points in a single stroke to drag the game into a tiebreaker. It's a pity that Ding Junhui was unlucky in the deciding game and failed to complete the reversal, losing 3-4 to Ali Carter and missing the quarterfinals. Although he missed the quarterfinals, reaching the first round still allowed Ding Junhui to gain 2The prize of 50,000 pounds, equivalent to about 230,000 yuan, is also worth the trip.
Higgins faced Mark Williams in the first round, and Higgins hit 167 as soon as he came up, but unfortunately stayed at 15 red, 15 black and 120 points. Higgins' on-court form was significantly better than that of Mark Williams, and he finally eliminated his opponent 4-2 to advance to the quarterfinals, and then faced O'Sullivan in the quarterfinals. So far, the quarterfinals have all been produced, and the 1 4 finals are Mark Allen vs Mark Selby, Luca Brecel vs Ali Carter, Trump vs Shaun Murphy, O'Sullivan vs Higgins.
The next second match day will be played 1 4 finals to determine the top four, every game is a strong dialogue, good luck to all the masters!