2018 China Championships

[DeanH]

93 for Martin O'Donnell
3-1 to Lyu at the MSI, impressive scoring, may it continue

[DeanH]

Lyu Haotian 3-0 with two centuries

snap!

in this regard Lyu Haotian is more experienced than O'Donnell - playing on TV table.
I hope Martin settles and shows us what we have not seen this week due to playing on non-TV tables

[JimMalone]

Lyu makes two centuries in the first three frames, leads 3-0.

[JimMalone]

This was a great first frame between Higgins and Trump.

[JimMalone]

Tomorrow is too late, I'm afraid... :wink:

I've gone through all the ranking events with matches of at least medium length, and it turns out that players under the age of 21 reaching quarter-finals is a very rare occurrence over the last two decades or so. It only happened twice in all of last season, and once the season before. It becomes even rarer before that, sometimes with several seasons in which it didn't happen at all. Ding Junhui managed to do it five times between 2005 and 2007, while everyone else that has done it since that period only managed it once or twice. It's funny, the 1998/1999 season is the most recent season where we even had three ranking quarter-finalists younger than 21, so the prospect of having three in the same tournament has just not been a realistic one in the last two decades.

Things get a little crazy if you go back another couple of years though, because the 1995/1996 season had 14 ranking quarter-finalists younger than 21. Higgins was the most prolific young player that season with seven, while O'Sullivan had seven himself the season before. Overall, I believe Hendry has the most with 16, O'Sullivan has 15, and John Higgins has 12. Perhaps the most surprising name on this list for me is Martin Clark though. He reached four ranking quarter-finals before he turned 21, but then never got beyond that stage in his entire career, losing all ten of his quarter-final matches. :smile:

Now, to answer the original question... This week is only the third time in history that three players as young as this have reached a major ranking quarter-final in the same event. The last time was in the 1996 Welsh Open (Williams, Dott and Hunter), and the time before that was the 1995 UK Championship (Williams, Higgins and O'Sullivan).

Time well spent, obviously. :wink:

Thanks for doing that research.
I would have thought that you only wound find a trio of Under 21's in the same quarterfinals if you'd go back to the times of Higgins, O'Sullivan and Williams, so that's no surprise. But I would have thought it would have happened a little more often than only twice.

[motorhead]

Tomorrow is too late, I'm afraid... :wink:

I've gone through all the ranking events with matches of at least medium length, and it turns out that players under the age of 21 reaching quarter-finals is a very rare occurrence over the last two decades or so. It only happened twice in all of last season, and once the season before. It becomes even rarer before that, sometimes with several seasons in which it didn't happen at all. Ding Junhui managed to do it five times between 2005 and 2007, while everyone else that has done it since that period only managed it once or twice. It's funny, the 1998/1999 season is the most recent season where we even had three ranking quarter-finalists younger than 21, so the prospect of having three in the same tournament has just not been a realistic one in the last two decades.

Things get a little crazy if you go back another couple of years though, because the 1995/1996 season had 14 ranking quarter-finalists younger than 21. Higgins was the most prolific young player that season with seven, while O'Sullivan had seven himself the season before. Overall, I believe Hendry has the most with 16, O'Sullivan has 15, and John Higgins has 12. Perhaps the most surprising name on this list for me is Martin Clark though. He reached four ranking quarter-finals before he turned 21, but then never got beyond that stage in his entire career, losing all ten of his quarter-final matches. :smile:

Now, to answer the original question... This week is only the third time in history that three players as young as this have reached a major ranking quarter-final in the same event. The last time was in the 1996 Welsh Open (Williams, Dott and Hunter), and the time before that was the 1995 UK Championship (Williams, Higgins and O'Sullivan).

Time well spent, obviously. :wink:

Nice find Odrl!

[arsalanjami]

What a stat! So basically 1/4 chances these players will become the new GOATS of the future?

[Odrl]

I don't have the time to do this research now, cause I'll pick up my own cue now, but I'll try to find out tomorrow :smile:

Tomorrow is too late, I'm afraid... :wink:

I've gone through all the ranking events with matches of at least medium length, and it turns out that players under the age of 21 reaching quarter-finals is a very rare occurrence over the last two decades or so. It only happened twice in all of last season, and once the season before. It becomes even rarer before that, sometimes with several seasons in which it didn't happen at all. Ding Junhui managed to do it five times between 2005 and 2007, while everyone else that has done it since that period only managed it once or twice. It's funny, the 1998/1999 season is the most recent season where we even had three ranking quarter-finalists younger than 21, so the prospect of having three in the same tournament has just not been a realistic one in the last two decades.

Things get a little crazy if you go back another couple of years though, because the 1995/1996 season had 14 ranking quarter-finalists younger than 21. Higgins was the most prolific young player that season with seven, while O'Sullivan had seven himself the season before. Overall, I believe Hendry has the most with 16, O'Sullivan has 15, and John Higgins has 12. Perhaps the most surprising name on this list for me is Martin Clark though. He reached four ranking quarter-finals before he turned 21, but then never got beyond that stage in his entire career, losing all ten of his quarter-final matches. :smile:

Now, to answer the original question... This week is only the third time in history that three players as young as this have reached a major ranking quarter-final in the same event. The last time was in the 1996 Welsh Open (Williams, Dott and Hunter), and the time before that was the 1995 UK Championship (Williams, Higgins and O'Sullivan).

Time well spent, obviously. :wink:

[JimMalone]

When was the last time we had three players aged 20 or younger in the quarter-finals of a proper ranking event? :smile:

I don't have the time to do this research now, cause I'll pick up my own cue now, but I'll try to find out tomorrow :smile:

[JimMalone]

So we have Higgins - Trump as the stand-out quarterfinal tomorrow. In matches over Best-of-9 or longer Higgins has a 7-1 advantage in their head-to-head, but to me Trump seems in much better form here, so I think he will come out victorious tomorrow.
Selby and Hawkins are the favorites against Yuan and Zhao, but the youngsters have good wins already in Guangzhou. I'd also make Lyu the slight favorite against O'Donnell, who has enjoyed a great tournament so far though.

[Odrl]

Yuan Sijun is also through with 5:3 over Mark King. A great week for the young chinese players. Zhao, Lyu and Yuan all in the quarterfinals.

When was the last time we had three players aged 20 or younger in the quarter-finals of a proper ranking event? :smile:

[JimMalone]

Yuan Sijun is also through with 5:3 over Mark King. A great week for the young chinese players. Zhao, Lyu and Yuan all in the quarterfinals.

[Odrl]

Nice win for Zhao Xintong. Obviously the penultimate frame was crucial, when Williams had a big lead and most of the colours were on the cushions, but Zhao developed the balls with some decent tactical play and a little bit of luck, then cleared to pinch the frame on the black. Unexpected. :smile:

[DeanH]

very impressive play by Zhao Xintong to beat Mark Williams
on to play Hawkins or Dott
don't get easier does it

[JimMalone]

There has been talk since a few years about what great a talent Zhao Xintong is (and he is). But this is the first time he actually has an impressive result to his name with reaching the quarterfinals at the China Championship. And he did so with nothing less than a 5-3 win over world champion Mark Williams.
Have only seen the last frame though so can't comment on the quality of his game today.