by James Dodd
MASTERS champion Yan Bingtao opened his Welsh Open account with a comfortable victory over fellow Chinese player Xu Si.
Bingtao lost the opening frame, but breaks of 51, 55, 104 and 127 helped him to a 4-1 triumph.
Frame 1
An average opening break of 28 from Bingtao were early signs that the 21-year-old hadn’t quite settled in.
Si responded with a break a 66 – one red away from clinching the frame after he overcut his shot.
However, a foul from Bingtao was enough for Si to capitalise and take the lead.
Frame 2
After Si’s break of four, it looked like Bingtao would finally step up.
His 22 break that followed didn’t prove this. His miss at the black showed his positional play of the cue ball is one that needs to be addressed in the future.
In a frame that took a long time to unfold, Bingtao found some composure and levelled the match after winning the second frame – thanks to a 55 break.
Frame 3
Bingtao clearly got confidence from this and wrapped the third frame up comfortably with a tremendous clearance of 127.
Frame 4
The fourth frame signified an hour of play, and this one started with plenty of safety shots.
However, a mistake from Si resulted in the number 78 in the world fall to a 3-1 deficit.
Bingtao finished with another century, potting the black for a 104 break.
Frame 5
Unfortunately for Si, this was a match where he made a few too many unforced errors.
This was pounced on by the world number 12 as Bingtao confirmed his place in the next round with a final break of 51 – winning the contest 4-1.
🇨🇳 𝗬𝗔𝗡’𝗦 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗠𝗔𝗡 👏
Yan Bingtao 4️⃣-1️⃣ Xu Si
The Masters champion is over the line after a run of 51.
He plays Frenchman Brian Ochoiski in round two.#WelshOpen pic.twitter.com/Ds6h48pS8S
— Live Snooker (@Livesnooker) February 16, 2021
90 – 28 (Xu Si)
104 – 6 (Yan Bingtao)
127 – 0 (Yan Bingtao)
110 – 0 (Yan Bingtao)
60 – 5 (Yan Bingtao)
Yan Bingtao will now play Frenchman Brian Ochoiski in the last 32.