Day 1 Comprehensive Report of The World Chinese 8ball Masters Grand Final – 總決賽首日綜述

The 5th World Chinese Eight Ball Masters Grand Finale concluded its first day of competition, witnessing some of the hot favourites falling into the consolation bracket, including big names such as ZHENG Yubo, SHI Hanqing and Zhang Guanghao, accompanied by YANG Fan and WANG Yun, both of whom lost their first matches, thus filling the consolation bracket of this year’s Final with mixed emotions.  Gareth Potts, another hot favourite in the tournament, on the other hand, made it to the 3rd round with two consecutive wins, but will have a long and tough way to go with WU Zhenyu, SHEN Chongyang, WAN Tongle, ZHANG Kunpeng (just produced 5 clearances plus 8 break-and-runs), as well as Corey Deuel (who just beat ZHENG Yubo with a marginal 12:11) all ahead of him.

ZHANG Kunpeng will be the one to look out for in the championship, after producing 5 clearances plus 8 break-and-runs to take down 2000-born ZHAO Ruliang with a big-margin of 13:2.  However, the two Chinese derbies were relatively close, with DAI Yong winning 13:10 over Zhang Guanghao, and GONG Haifeng sending SHI Hanqing to the other end with a score of 13:7.  Nevertheless, the match between ZHENG Yubo and Corey Deuel (USA) was the thrilling one when it came down to the last second on the clock that ate everyone’s heart out.

Corey Deuel

Deuel kicked the match off by winning 2 racks in a row, and kept dominating the table to increase his lead to 6:2 over ZHENG Yubo. Deuel was having a joyride despites ZHENG’s effort to try turning the game around.  It was not until the 21st rack before ZHENG finally picked up his momentum to produce a clearance, and then snatched 2 more racks to fight it back to 11:12. Unfortunately, ZHENG will have to play in the consolation bracket now after failing to clear the table within only 3 minutes left on the clock for him. YU Ting and WU Zhenyu both marked big wins against their opponents. They advanced in the winners’ bracket, and will be joined by LI Hui, who also recorded a big win of 13:5 over Jack Whelan (aka “Potts II”).

In the consolation bracket, Shane Van Boening (Chinese 8 Ball Dream Team) saw off Jorge Llanos of Argentina; the second half of the match was televised worldwide live through CCTV-5. WANG Yun, after losing to DAI Yong in a cruel decider previously, went one step ahead by taking down JEONG Young Hwa of South Korea. LIU Yang of Tianjin eliminated Inner Mongolia’s rookie YIN Hongxing with a score of 13:9, while Ah Ti of Myanmar knocked out ZHANG Daowei with a marginal 11:10.  Up to the moment of writing, Only LI Heng, ZHANG Daowei and YIN Hongxing were the three Chinese players that are out of the tournament.

WANG Yun 王云

第五屆喬氏杯中式八球國際大師賽全球總決賽首個比賽日結束。在首日最後一輪比賽中，奪冠熱門選手鄭宇伯、石漢青、張廣豪三員猛將竟全部跌落敗部，加上首場比賽跌落敗部的楊帆、王云等名將，本屆大師賽總決賽的敗部又將上演相愛相殺的殘酷畫面。而備受矚目的另一大奪冠熱門選手Gareth Potts，雖然連勝兩場進入勝部第三輪，但除Potts外，剛剛奉獻8炸5接的張堃鵬、吳振宇、申重陽、宛仝樂以及剛剛12:11絕殺鄭宇伯的Corey Deuel，都將是Potts晉級路上的最強阻礙。

本場比賽，張堃鵬速戰速決，以8炸5接13:2的比分橫掃00後獨苗趙汝亮，如此勢頭無疑劍指冠軍。而再隨後的中國內戰中，兩兩交戰頗為激烈。先是代勇13:10力克張廣豪，而後，宮海峰以13:7的比分將石漢青打落敗部。但最令人震驚的是，鄭宇伯與美國選手Corey Deuel的絕殺之戰。

Shane Van Boening

開局，Deuel便以2:0的比分占據主動，繼而又以6:2的比分繼續領跑鄭宇伯。儘管鄭宇伯一直試圖扭轉被動局面，但過多的失誤加之對手的火熱手感，一路被Deuel壓制。直到第21局，鄭宇伯才稍顯逆襲之勢，在一個接清9:12追回一分後，鄭宇伯又乘勝拿下兩局，將比分追至11:12。但最終，在僅剩3分鐘的時間裡，鄭宇伯未能完成清台，繼而以11：12的比分惜敗Deuel，跌落敗部。勝部其他場次，李輝13:5大勝“波茨第二” Jack Whelan，于庭和吳振宇也都相繼以大比分挑落各自對手。

敗部比賽，中式八球國際夢之隊球員Shane Van Boening以14:6的比分淘汰阿根廷選手Jorge Llanos，比賽下半場在CCTV5進行了全球直播。王云繼首場被代勇絕殺後，在敗部第二輪終於扳回一城，以13:6的比分將韓國選手鄭容和淘汰出局。天津選手劉洋13:9淘汰內蒙新秀尹洪星，緬甸選手楊紹杰以11:10的比分絕殺張道偉。目前，被淘汰的中國選手僅李恒、張道偉、尹洪星三人。

CN: Chen Chen
EN: Samuel Lai