Street Fighter 6 EWC group stage opener ends 1-3 for Xiaohai, but group stays alive

XIAOHAI Drops to EWC Losers’ Bracket After 1–3 Street Fighter 6 Opening Loss

XIAOHAI’s bid for a third straight EWC title opened with a 1–3 loss to PHENOM, according to Gamersky, sending the Chinese player XIAOHAI (Zeng Zhuojun) into the losers’ bracket. XIAOHAI ran Mai Shiranui in the Group D opener; PHENOM answered with Cammy. The set score moved 0–1, 0–2, 1–2, 1–3, and XIAOHAI’s push for a third consecutive EWC championship suddenly got a lot harder.

Even a casual viewer could see the set was one-way traffic. XIAOHAI’s Mai never found a reliable answer to PHENOM’s Cammy, and the score tells the story: PHENOM took the first two games, XIAOHAI grabbed one back, then PHENOM closed it out. It was the kind of start a top seed is supposed to avoid, and it means XIAOHAI spent nearly the whole set climbing uphill.

The comments under Gamersky’s report were kinder than the scoreline. One reader wrote that "as long as XIAOHAI is still competing, the kid never really gets old"; another said that "Zeng Zhuojun has proven with his play that the old master still has it." That sentiment can read a little sappy, but it also shows how much of the Chinese fighting-game community’s pride is wrapped up in this player.

A first-round loss is not an automatic exit in this EWC format, and XIAOHAI still has a path forward. The catch is that every match from here is a must-win, and a three-peat would require him to run the losers’ side of the bracket with a much cleaner performance than the one he showed in Group D.

The next round is where the pressure either refocuses him or ends the run. The takeaway is simple: XIAOHAI is not out, but he is no longer the comfortable favorite.