It’s round two of the English Open, and everyone is making calculated steps towards the coveted prize – £70,000 as well as the Steve Davis Trophy.
The day kicked off in style with colours and glitter – expected to accompany any competition of such magnitude – dotting every corner of the arena. The very first game of the afternoon saw defending champion, Stuart Bingham slug it out with Si Jiahui. At the end of the encounter, one bowed his head in disappointment while the other leapt for joy like he had just won a lottery. Who did what?
Si Jiahui showed all that cared to see, the stuff he was capable of with an impressive dominant win against defending champion, Stuart Bingham.
Stuart, 43, who had turned professional in 1995, seven years before his opponents was ever born humbly succumbed to the defeat. The 43-year-old was never truly in the content and humbly gave in to the onslaught of his Asian opponent.
It was Jiahui who started on the front foot, claiming the opening frame by an incredible 91 points to 24 wins. He then raced to a 3-0 lead over Stuart. En route to hitting that mark, he recorded his highest break at 85 in the second.
He is now poised to lock horns with either ben Woolalaston or Zhou Yuelong in the last-32.
All talks of a title defense by Stuart is now all over having suffered such a huge blow at the hands of Chinese rookie, Si Jiahui. He must have hoped for a return to Crawley to ignite his slow start to the season, but he was always caught on the heels by his Chinese opponent.
The Chinese rookie dominated since he took a scrappy opening frame. His break of 85 doubled his lead before racing on to a third frame. A run of 85 in frame four signaled the end of the road for Bingham in what was otherwise a forgettable morning for the veteran.
The 17-year-old needed two bites of the cherry to put an end to the proceedings in the fifth frame. However, since he wasn’t punished by his veteran opponent when missing a red to the green pocket, he ended the fairytale run with a classy run of 68 to etch his name in gold and book a spot in the next round.
Written by: Roland Arum