From January 10 to 11, 2024, Beijing time, the last two matches of the first round of the 23/24 Snooker Masters ended, Mark Allen narrowly defeated John Higgins 6-5, and Mark Selby swept Robert Milkins 6-1, both advancing to the top 8. So far, the top 8 of this year's Snooker Masters have all been released, and the 1/4 finals will be contested from tonight, whether it is from the perspective of comprehensive strength, presence or historical data, Ronnie O'Sullivan and Mark Selby will enter the final and once again stage a peak duel of offense and defense.
In the two matches played last night, Mark Allen vs John Higgins. Higgins hit two 80+ shots to go into halftime with a 3-1 lead. After returning from halftime, Allen scored 123 and 58 points in a single stroke, overtaking the score in four consecutive games and getting the match point. Higgins then hit two 50+ shots to save two match points in succession to drag the game into a tiebreaker. In the deciding game, Allen scored 86 points in a single stroke to win and narrowly beat Higgins with a score of 6-5. In another Mark Selby vs. Robert Milkins match, Selby played well and created the most disparity since the start of the game, scoring 119, 63, 53 points, and going into halftime with a huge 4-0 advantage. After returning from the break, Milkins scored 88 points to pull one back, and then Selby scored 74 and 70 points to sweep Milkins with a score of 6-1 and advance to the top 8.
So far, the top 8 matches of this Snooker Masters have all been released. Thursday, January 11: 21:00 Ronnie O'Sullivan vs Barry Hawkins, 3:00 the next day Shaun Murphy vs Jack Lisowski. Friday, January 12: 21:00 Judd Trump vs Ali Carter, 3:00 Mark Selby vs Mark Allen the next day. Judging from the situation of the upper and lower halves, no one can stop O'Sullivan and Selby from meeting in the finals.
From the perspective of comprehensive strength, O'Sullivan is the leader of snooker in the world today, the first of the 75 three masters, and 22 career champions. Selby is firmly in the top spot of the 80 Five Tigers, with nine career three major championships. Judging from the matchup situation, O'Sullivan's victory over Ding Junhui has kicked out the most threatening player in the upper half of the game, and the others, whether it is Hawkins, Murphy, or the little driver, do not pose much threat to it. In the second half, Higgins has been eliminated from the competition, and Trump, who is a big threat to Selby, is in average offensive condition, and has a greater loss against Selby. Judging from the state of the scene, O'Sullivan's offensive firepower in the first round was terrifying, making people shudder, winning with 5 single-shot shots and breaking 100 with two shots, so that Ding Junhui had no power to fight back. The same is true of Selby, who is both offensive and defensive, and is in hot form. Judging from historical data, the past results of the Masters of the top 8 players, O'Sullivan (13 finals, 7 championships) Selby (5 finals, 3 championships) Trump (2 finals, 2 championships) Murphy (2 finals, 1 championship) Hawkins (2 finals, 0 championships) Allen (1 final, 1 championship) Carter (1 final, 0 championships) Lisowski (0 finals, 0 championships), there is no doubt that O'Sullivan and Selby are the two most successful.
With the arrival of the Snooker Masters Top 8, the competition will be even more exciting. Are you looking forward to O'Sullivan Selby bringing another visual feast of Mars hitting the Earth final?!