Snooker China Open: Thai Dark Horse Reaches Final, Zhou Yuelong Loses 5-6, Chinese Team Completely Eliminated

On August 15 Beijing time, the first semifinal of the Snooker China Open ended. The well-known Chinese player Zhou Yuelong battled through 11 frames but still lost 5-6 to the Thai dark horse, decisively denied a spot in the final. This is extremely regrettable and difficult to come to terms with. Consequently, the Chinese contingent has been wiped out entirely in this event, while Sangkham has become the first to reach the final as a dark horse, truly remarkable!

Zhou Yuelong is ranked 22nd in the world. Despite playing for many years, he has yet to win a title, indicating he still has clear weaknesses. However, in this tournament, he handled the pressure to reach the semifinals, taking on the responsibility of winning the championship for the Chinese team. In the semifinal, he faced the relatively unknown Thai player Sangkham, who is ranked 45th globally. Throughout this event, Sangkham encountered tough opponents but won all his matches, defeating three major stars: Trump, O'Sullivan, and Murphy — none of them easy to beat. Today, Zhou and Sangkham met for the eighth time in their professional careers, with many highlights. However, in their head-to-head record, Sangkham holds an advantage. Zhou had a chance to reach the final, but whether he could seize it remained uncertain.

After the match began, the pace in the first four frames was not too fast. Sangkham aggressively took the early lead, achieving a dream start of 2-0. Zhou immediately responded by winning two consecutive frames to level the score at 2-2. However, after the break, the situation turned. Zhou made repeated errors, losing two frames where he had big leads, allowing Sangkham to complete a comeback and falling into a 2-4 deficit. Zhou fought back to take the seventh frame 68-33, narrowing the gap to 3-4. But Sangkham then fired a 56 break to win the eighth frame, taking a 5-3 lead and match point. Unwilling to be eliminated, Zhou rallied suddenly, displaying sharp accuracy with breaks of 99 and 74 to win two straight frames, leveling at 5-5 and bringing the match back to square one. However, in the decider, Zhou made a mistake on the break-off, leaving an opening. Sangkham showed great composure, calmly potting a long shot, and then launched into a scoring spree, clearing all balls precisely with a magnificent 134 break to win 6-5 and advance to the final. It must be said that Sangkham's dark horse credentials are truly impressive.

Congratulations to Sangkham! His performance in this tournament has been truly outstanding. Perhaps many fans are not very familiar with Sangkham, but this unassuming player has managed to defeat so many top-tier players and reach the final first. It seems he is really something special. His opponent in the final is likely to be Selby, one of the "80s Five Tigers". Let's wait and see!

Text/Sports Novel