At 18:00 on November 13th, the 2020 Snooker German Masters Qualifying Tournament kicked off for the promotion round. After the 90s, Zhao Xintong and Jamie O’Neal competed for a seat in the main match.
A total of 9 Chinese players advanced in the first round of this qualifying round. Zhao Xintong blasted 4 shots and 80+ in the first 4 games to get the match point, but Lee Walker won 3 games to narrow the gap. Fortunately, the 23-year-old Chinese teenager withstood the pressure and finished the battle with 127 points on a single stroke in the 8th round. He was only 1 win away from the race.
Zhao Xintong is a rising star of Chinese snooker. He is known as the Chinese rocket for his sharp offense and quick shots. He is the only Chinese seedling in the top 8 of the last German Masters. In 2018, he was upset and reached the top 4 of the Chinese Championship. The latest world ranking Number 29. O'Neal is ranked 82nd in the world, and his best record is only ranked in the top 16. It is not easy to upset Zhao Xintong.
The two sides faced off in the first game. Zhao Xintong scored 37 points with a 9-8 lead. O'Neal was unwilling to show weakness and scored 42 points after getting the ball, 50-46 overtaking. The two sides competed around the last three colored balls. Although Zhao Xintong was penalized for a mistake, he then scored a 57-55 lead with the blue and pink balls. At the critical moment, the Chinese Rockets had an unstable mentality. They missed a simple black ball and made a suicidal error. O'Neal cleared the table and fixed the score at 62-57. Zhao Xintong was unfavorable and lost by 5 points. The prospect of promotion is not optimistic.
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