On April 18, 2022, Beijing time, the snooker World Championship ended on the second day of the main competition, and Zhao Xintong, O'Sullivan, Jackson Page, and Stephen Maguire advanced to the round of 16. Zhao Xintong beat Jamie Clark 10-2 in the next round against Stephen Maguire. O'Sullivan eliminated David Gilbert 10-5 with the next round against the winner between Mark Allen and Scott Donaldson. If Zhao Xintong and O'Sullivan win the second round, they will have a direct dialogue in the quarterfinals.
As the six-time winner of the World Championships, O'Sullivan is relaxed, even after being chased 5-6 by David Gilbert, O'Sullivan always smiles. With a three-shot break plus a five-shot 50+, O'Sullivan easily advanced to the round of 16 10-5. The game allowed O'Sullivan to set four new career records:
First, this is O'Sullivan's 26th time in the round of 16 of the World Championships.
Second, it was O'Sullivan's 70th victory at Crucible, equalizing Hendry. As long as the next round is won again, it will be against Hendry.
Third, O'Sullivan shot his 187th 100th at Crucible and the 1157th career 1157th to beat the 100th, far ahead.
Fourth, O'Sullivan scored 50 in a breaking 100 this season, the eighth season of his career to break 50.
In the face of these records, O'Sullivan was very calm, saying after the game that he was enjoying the game, and joked: don't talk about the record, or Wafi should be mad again. During the interview, he also put on glasses, compared with the host who interviewed him whose glasses look good, and was in a really good mood.
Judging from the signing table, if O'Sullivan wins one more game, the possibility of meeting Zhao Xintong is greatly increased. In front of the camera, O'Sullivan praised the Chinese player Zhao Xintong, this time even more exaggerated, bluntly saying that Zhao Xintong is Federer with a snooker club, and he may become the greatest player of all time.
Zhao Xintong also talked about O'Sullivan after the victory, and he was very grateful for O'Sullivan's help. As for the aspects in which O'Sullivan helped, Zhao Xintong said that he had no comment and was quite humorous. Participating in the World Championships as a seeded player for the first time, winning 10-2, or the first victory in Crucible, Zhao Xintong performed perfectly and his opponents were convinced. The defeated Jamie Clark said that if Zhao Xintong does not win the championship this time, he can definitely win the world championship within 5 years.
Everyone is looking forward to Zhao Xintong and O'Sullivan meeting at the World Championships, and now it seems that there is a lot of hope. However, Zhao Xintong has to accept the challenge of Stephen Maguire, which is of course an uphill battle, and I hope that Zhao Xintong will adjust well, come up with a better competitive state, and continue to create surprises!