November was a nice month on the snooker circuit with the
Champion of Champions in Coventry and the Bulgarian Open as well as the early
stages of the UK Championships in York. One moment stood out to me in this time
and that was Zhou Yuelong and Yan Bingtao both winning their first round
matches at the Champion of Champions against the odds.
Zhou Yuelong’s match with World Champion Stuart Bingham was
the very first of the tournament, with both Yuelong and Bingtao qualifying as
we saw in June by winning the World Cup to take 2 of the 16 places in this
event. Out of the two you felt that Zhou, as the player that had already been
playing on the pro tour for a year and a half, was the one most capable and
more likely to cause an upset.
He showed his intentions early and settled in brilliantly
with a wonderful run of 68 to take the opening frame and lead 1-0. After that
it seemed that the pressure was getting to him as he missed a few balls and
displayed some inexperienced shot selection, as Stuart wasn’t at his best
either so he had enough chances to take advantage of it. For the next three
frames though the bad misses started costing Zhou as Bingham won a tight frame
and then made a break of 55 on the way to a comfortable looking 3-1 lead. After
that, Zhou continued to get chances and although he wasn’t making frame winning
breaks he was doing enough to ultimately punish Bingham and put the easy misses
out of his mind. At this point in the season Bingham had already lost from 3-1
up on a couple of occasions on the European Tour so that certainly would have
been in his mind when Yuelong dominated the next two frames to force a deciding
frame at 3-3. After early opportunities for both it was Yuelong that held it
together making a break of 62 to win the match 4-3 and knock the World Champion
out in the very first round of the Champion of Champions for a massive win in
his career.
Meanwhile, his World Cup winning partner Yan Bingtao was not
in action until the Thursday afternoon when he took on Masters Champion and World
Championship runner-up Shaun Murphy. Coming into the match Shaun had never won
a match in two previous visits to the Champion of Champions in Coventry, but
you certainly felt that this was the best chance he would have to break that
duck. I was actually invited by Shaun to come and watch the afternoons play in
Coventry, and the first feeling I got was that Yan Bingtao certainly didn’t
look like a 15 year old. I mean that from two perspectives. First of all, he
physically looked a lot older than 15, both in terms of his height and facial
features so in that sense it would have been easy not to believe he was that
young. In fact when I spoke to Shaun after the match he said that until being
told when popping back upstairs to the tournament lounge, he had forgotten just
how young his opponent was. However, his shot selection was the thing that
impressed me. Yes he is certainly an attacking player which is always nice to
watch. However, he didn’t push the boat out too much and he certainly has a lot
of talent, when you consider that when he is only 15 and most players peak
around the age of 30, he has a very long time to improve.
There was not much room for improvement against Murphy. In
the opening frame he had to sit and watch as Murphy cleared from the last two
reds down to the final black to steal it and you felt that that could be a key
moment considering Yan’s youth. He dominated the next and took the two chances
he got to level the match at 1-1. Murphy was in first in frame three with a
break of 63, and even though he missed carelessly just short of the frame
winning line he wasn’t punished and moved 2-1 in front. Frame four was scrappy
and both players had plenty of chances. When Bingtao won it to level at 2-2
that was the first time I sensed sitting in the crowd that there was actual
belief that Yan could win and I felt that the tension spread through to Shaun
as well. Yan’s long potting was superb through the match, and it gave him
plenty of chances. In the fifth frame he showed what he was all about with a
break of 74 to move ahead for the first time in the match at 3-2. One away from
defeat Shaun was in real trouble and when Yan potted a great long ball to get
his chance in the balls a break of 58 proved enough to win the match 4-2 and
send another big gun packing.
Winning the world cup as a pairing was obviously huge but to
then come over to the UK and play the two players he contested the world final,
and play as individuals and not as a member of a team with the other guy to
fall back on, it felt like a huge moment when this all took place. With £10,000
for winning those matches and getting to the quarter-finals it was also a
hugely productive time for them. That is why the pair winning these matches at
the Champion of Champions is my moment of the month for November.
I hope you can come back tomorrow to find out what the final nomination will be.
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