Zhao Xintong (; born 3 April 1997) is a Chinese professional

snooker Snooker (pronounced , ) is a cue sports, cue sport played on a Billiard table#Snooker and English billiards tables, rectangular table covered with a green cloth called baize, with six Billiard table#Pockets 2, pockets, one at each corner and o ...

player. Long considered one of the brightest talents in the game, he won his first ranking title (also his first

Triple Crown Triple Crown may refer to: Sports Horse racing * Triple Crown of Thoroughbred Racing * Triple Crown of Thoroughbred Racing (United States) ** Triple Crown Trophy ** Triple Crown Productions * Canadian Triple Crown of Thoroughbred Racing * Tri ...

title) at the 2021 UK Championship, defeating

Luca Brecel Luca Brecel (born 8 March 1995) is a Belgian professional snooker player. He won the European Under-19 title at the age of 14 and went on to break Stephen Hendry's record as the youngest player ever to compete at the Crucible Theatre. He made h ...

10–5 in the final. With this win, he entered the top 16 in the world rankings for the first time at number nine, and became eligible to compete in his first Masters. He won his second ranking title less than two months later when he whitewashed

Yan Bingtao Yan Bingtao (, born 16 February 2000) is a Chinese professional snooker player. He is the youngest player to win the Amateur World Snooker Championship after defeating Muhammad Sajjad 8–7. Having qualified to compete on the main tour for ...

9–0 in the final to win the 2022 German Masters. In doing so, Zhao became only the third player in professional snooker history, after

Steve Davis Steve Davis (born 22 August 1957) is an English retired professional snooker player who is currently a Sports commentator, commentator, musician, DJ, and author. He is best known for dominating professional snooker during the 1980s, when he rea ...

and

Neil Robertson Neil Robertson (born 11 February 1982) is an Australian professional snooker player who is a former world champion and former world number one. The only Australian to have won a ranking event, he is also the only player from outside the United ...

, to win a two-session ranking final without conceding a frame.

Career

Zhao Xintong first drew international attention in June 2012 at the Zhangjiagang Open defeating high ranking players

Xiao Guodong Xiao Guodong (, born 10 February 1989) is a Chinese professional snooker player. He turned professional in 2007 after winning the Asian Under-21 Championships. Career 2007–2010 Xiao appeared as a wildcard in the 2007 China Open, and beat t ...

, Irishman Kevin McMahon and

Yu Delu Yu Delu (; born 11 October 1987) is a former professional snooker player from the People's Republic of China. He is currently serving a 10 years and 9 months ban for match-fixing from 25 May 2018 until 24 February 2029. The ban was announced on ...

to reach the last 16 of the tournament where he narrowly lost 4–3 to Stephen Lee. Zhao would build on this success by reaching the second round of

Asian Tour Events Asian may refer to: * Items from or related to the continent of Asia: ** Asian people, people in or descending from Asia ** Asian culture, the culture of the people from Asia ** Asian cuisine, food based on the style of food of the people from Asi ...

the Yixing Open and Zhengzhou Open. As a wildcard entrant he defeated former

World Champion A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game, ...

Ken Doherty Ken Doherty (born 17 September 1969) is an Irish professional snooker player, commentator and radio presenter. As an amateur, Doherty won the Irish Amateur Championship twice, the World Under-21 Amateur Championship and the World Amateur C ...

in the International Championship to reach the last 32 of a ranking event for the first time, again narrowly losing in a final frame decider 6–5 to

Matthew Stevens Matthew Stevens (born 11 September 1977) is a Welsh professional snooker player. He has won two of the game's Triple Crown events, the Masters in 2000 and the UK Championship in 2003. He has also been a two-time runner-up in the other triple ...

. Having also earned his way to the last 32 of the World Open and China Open, Zhao started gaining the reputation of the Wildcard Menace, a mantle formerly held by Kevin McMahon. In 2013, at the International Championship, he beat six-time

6–1 who later commented: "This boy was astonishingly good and better than anybody I have ever seen at that age - and that includes

Ronnie O'Sullivan Ronald Antonio O'Sullivan (born 5 December 1975) is an English professional snooker player who is the current world champion and world number one. Widely recognised as one of the most talented and accomplished players in the sport's history, ...

." He went on to reach the third round of the competition before losing 6–2 to

Marco Fu Marco Fu Ka-chun, MH, JP (, born 8 January 1978) is a Hong Kong professional snooker player. He is a three-time snooker world rankings, ranking event winner, having won the 2007 Grand Prix (snooker), 2007 Grand Prix, the 2013 Australian ...

, however he would go on to avenge this loss by defeating Fu in the first round of the 2014 Shanghai Masters. Zhao entered the World Amateur Championship in late 2013 reaching the final, however he lost to his fellow countryman

Zhou Yuelong Zhou Yuelong (; born 24 January 1998) is a Chinese professional snooker player. He has been runner-up at three ranking events, the January 2020 European Masters, the 2020 Snooker Shoot Out, and the 2022 Northern Ireland Open. Career Between 2 ...

8–4 and thus missed out on a chance to join the world snooker main tour for the 2014–15 season.

2014–15 season

Zhao entered several events in an attempt to qualify for the 2015–16 season. He was narrowly defeated in the first round of the ACBS Asian Snooker Championship. He won three games in the first event of Q School before losing 4–3 to

Alexander Ursenbacher Alexander Ursenbacher (born 26 April 1996) is a Swiss professional snooker player from Rheinfelden. He is Switzerland's first professional snooker player (former professional Darren Paris represented England, in the mid-1990s, before moving to S ...

in the penultimate round. In the second event Zhao got extremely close to qualifying for the main tour managing to reach the final round before losing 4–3 to

Duane Jones Duane L. Jones (April 11, 1937July 22, 1988) was an American actor and theatre director, best known for his lead role as Ben in the 1968 horror film ''Night of the Living Dead''. He was later director of the Maguire Theater at the State Universi ...

in a black ball finish in the deciding frame.

2015–16 season

Zhao's high Q School Order of Merit ranking gave him entry as a top up player to many events in the 2015–16 season. He whitewashed

Stuart Carrington Stuart Carrington (born 14 May 1990) is an English professional snooker player. He practises frequently with Steven Hallworth and Ian Glover in Grimsby. In May 2011, Carrington qualified for the 2011–12 professional Main Tour as one of four ...

6–0 to qualify for the International Championship and, despite losing 6–2 to

John Higgins John Higgins, (born 18 May 1975) is a Scottish professional snooker player. He has won 31 career ranking titles, placing him in third position on the all-time list of ranking event winners, behind Ronnie O'Sullivan (39) and Stephen Hendry ( ...

in the first round, his effort of 142 won the high break prize for the event. Zhao made his first appearance at the

UK Championship The UK Championship is a professional ranking snooker tournament. It is one of snooker's prestigious Triple Crown events, along with the World Championship and the Masters. It is usually held at the Barbican Centre, York. Ronnie O'Sullivan h ...

German Masters The German Masters is a professional ranking snooker tournament held at the Tempodrom in Berlin, Germany since 2011. The 2021 event was held at Milton Keynes in England because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Zhao Xintong is the reigning champion, h ...

and Welsh Open, but was knocked out in the opening round of each. He lost in the final of the 2015 IBSF World Snooker Championship 8–6 to Pankaj Advani. It meant that Zhao won a two-year card for the main tour after Advani declined the invitation.

2016–17 season

After whitewashing Wang Yuchen 4–0 at the

English Open The English Open was a professional golf tournament held in England. First played in 1988, it was an annual event on the European Tour until 2002. After several aborted attempts at reviving the tournament, it returned to the tour schedule in 20 ...

, Zhao met

in the second round. Breaks of 130, 107 and 80 saw him lead 3–2, but he missed chances to take the win and was defeated 4–3. O'Sullivan said afterwards that Zhao's attacking style of play had reminded him of

Stephen Hendry Stephen Gordon Hendry (born 13 January 1969) is a Scottish professional snooker player who dominated the sport during the 1990s, becoming one of the most successful players in its history. After turning professional in 1985 at age 16, Hendry ...

when he was a similar age. He qualified for the

by beating

Li Hang Li Hang is the name of: * Li Hang (footballer) (李行, born 1989), Chinese association footballer *Li Hang (snooker player) (李行, born 1990), Chinese snooker player See also * Li Gang (Song dynasty) (李綱, 1083–1140), regional commander se ...

5–3 and

5–1 and a 5–0 thrashing of

Akani Songsermsawad Akani Songsermsawad (; born 10 September 1995), better known as Sunny Akani, is a Thai former professional snooker player. Career Early career Akani, a regular in amateur Thai snooker events since 2011, first came to international attention with ...

saw Zhao reach the last 16 of a ranking event for the first time. He held a narrow 4–3 advantage over

Ali Carter Allister Carter (born 25 July 1979) is an English professional snooker player. He has twice been the World Championship runner-up, in 2008 and 2012, losing both finals to Ronnie O'Sullivan. He has won four ranking titles and briefly reached numb ...

, but lost the last two frames. Zhao was also edged out in the third round Gibraltar Open 4–3 by Mark Williams.

2017–18 season

He dropped off the tour at the end of the 2017–18 season but entered Q School in a bid to win back his place. He subsequently won back his place by beating

Dechawat Poomjaeng Dechawat Poomjaeng ( ''Dechāwạt Phùmcæ̂ng'', born July 11, 1978) is a Thai professional snooker player. Career Early career He won the 2010 IBSF World Snooker Championship in Damascus, Syria, defeating India's Pankaj Advani 10–7 in the ...

in the second Event final of Q School.

2018–19 season

Zhao bounced back after a difficult 2017–18 season, reaching his first semi-final at the China Championship early in the season, beating

Anthony McGill Anthony McGill (born 5 February 1991) is a Scottish professional snooker player. He is a practice partner of retired snooker player Alan McManus. McGill turned professional in 2010, after finishing fourth in the 2009/2010 PIOS rankings. He wo ...

Fergal O'Brien Fergal O'Brien (born 8 March 1972) is an Irish professional snooker player who plays on the main professional tour since 1991. Ranked within the world's top 64 players from 1994 to 2022, he has reached his highest position of 9th in the 2000 ...

, Mark Williams, and

Barry Hawkins Barry Hawkins (born 23 April 1979) is an English professional snooker player from Ditton, Kent. He turned professional in 1996, but only rose to prominence in the 2004–05 snooker season, when he reached the last 16 of the 2004 UK Championship ...

, before losing 4–6 to

Mark Selby Mark Anthony Selby (born 19 June 1983) is an English professional snooker player, who is a four-time World Snooker Champion. Ranked world number one on multiple occasions, he has won a total of 21 ranking titles, placing him eighth on the ...

. He also reached the quarter-finals of the Welsh Open, losing 2–5 to eventual finalist

Stuart Bingham Stuart Bingham (born 21 May 1976) is an English professional snooker player who is a former world and Masters champion. Bingham won the 1996 World Amateur Championship but enjoyed little sustained success in the early part of his professional ...

. Perhaps the biggest achievement of the season for Zhao was reaching the final stages of the

World Championship A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game, ...

for the first time, but he lost 7–10 to Selby in the first round.

2019–20 season

Zhao maintained his form from the previous season, reaching another quarter-final in the

and progressing to the last 16 in at least four other tournaments. This consistent performance elevated his world ranking to 29th by the end of the season. Ronnie O'Sullivan, Stephen Hendry, and Alan McManus have all once suggested that Zhao would become a leading player in world snooker due to his enormous potential.

2020-21 season

2021-22 season – UK Champion and breakthrough into the top 16

In the 2021 UK Championship, Zhao claimed his first Triple Crown title, and first ranking title overall, by beating Belgian

10–5, in the final. Due to this, he climbed into the Top 16 of the rankings, at number 9, becoming the Chinese number 1 player. He also qualified for the 2022 Masters, and became number 1 on the one-year ranking list. At the Masters, he played

in the first round in a repeat of prior meetings in both the World Grand Prix and the UK Championship, however, he lost 2–6. In 2022, he reached the final of the 2022 German Masters, having defeated seasoned professionals such as Mark Williams,

Tom Ford Thomas Carlyle Ford (born August 27, 1961) is an American fashion designer and filmmaker. He launched his eponymous luxury brand in 2005, having previously served as the creative director at Gucci and Yves Saint Laurent. Ford wrote and direct ...

, the defending champion

Judd Trump Judd Trump (born 20 August 1989) is an English professional snooker player, a former world champion and former world number one. Widely regarded as one of the sport's most talented players, he is currently sixth on the list of all-time ranki ...

and

Ricky Walden Ricky Walden (born 11 November 1982) is an English professional snooker player from Chester. Walden turned professional in 2000 and it took him eight years to win his first ranking title at the Shanghai Masters. He has since won the 2012 Wuxi ...

. There, he met fellow professional and countryman

, whom he defeated by a whitewash of 9-0 to claim the second ranking title of his career in the space of just two months. By doing so, he became only the third player in history to whitewash a player in the final of a ranking event: the last two who did this were

and

Performance and rankings timeline

Career finals

Ranking finals: 2 (2 titles)

Pro-am finals: 1 (1 title)

Team finals: 2 (1 title)

Amateur finals: 2

References

Citations

Sources

External links

Zhao Xintong
at ''worldsnooker.com''
Zhao Xintong
at ''CueTracker.net: Snooker Results and Statistic Database'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Zhao, Xintong 1997 births Chinese snooker players Living people Sportspeople from Xi'an UK champions (snooker) 21st-century Chinese people