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Zhao Xintong’s hopes of becoming the first Chinese player to win the World Snooker Championship have been given a major boost after building an impressive 11-6 overnight lead over Mark Williams in the final at the Crucible.
Zhao booked his place in final with a scintillating display of snooker, sweeping aside Ronnie O’Sullivan in an extraordinary semi-final performance to secure the match with a session to spare.
That set up a clash with 50-year-old Williams in a best-of-35 encounter over Sunday and Monday, after the Welshman beat Judd Trump 17-14 in a captivating semi-final. And Zhao surged into a 7-1 lead after the first session, with Williams hitting back slightly to narrow the deficit to 11-6 in the second session, with 18 frames the target for victory.
The 28-year-old is playing as an amateur in Sheffield, and before the start of the season hadn’t competed in a professional tournament since 2022. But given he already has a Triple Crown title in his pocket, this isn’t any ordinary amateur snooker player.
For Zhao’s story over the last few years is complex. After brilliantly winning the UK Championship back in 2021 to properly announce his arrival, the left-hander has spent the past two years banned from snooker for his role in the match-fixing scandal that engulfed a number of the sport’s biggest Chinese players.
The same tournament where he made his breakthrough marked Zhao’s return to the big stage in November of last year. Before his ban, he was fast becoming a fan favourite due to his flamboyant style of play, ferocious long potting and unbelievable skill with a cue in his hand. But the match-fixing scandal has left something of a black mark by his name.
The high-profile saga engulfed snooker in early 2023 as 10 Chinese players were charged with varying degrees of match-fixing, and ultimately Liang Wenbo and Li Hang were banned from the sport for life. Former world No 11 Liang’s behaviour was identified as “particularly disgraceful” by the WPBSA disciplinary commission that carried out the hearing.
The two biggest names caught up in the scandal were 2021 Masters champion Yan Bingtao, who is currently serving a five-year ban until December 2027, and Zhao, who was ranked ninth in the world when his suspension began, having added the 2022 German Masters title to his shock UK Championship crown.
It is worth repeating that Zhao did not personally fix any matches – hence his punishment being on the more lenient end of the scale – but he was found guilty of being party to another player fixing two matches and betting on snooker matches himself. He saw a 30-month suspension reduced to 20 months following early admissions and his guilty plea but there are those within the sport who wanted to see harsher punishments for every single player caught up in the mess.
Zhao’s ban expired in September 2024 and he has been playing on the amateur Q Tour since then, where he won tournaments in Manchester, Sweden, Austria and Belgium, while making two 147 breaks in the process – the first player ever to make a maximum on that circuit. That earned him full playing rights for next season, which begins over the summer, meaning his amateur status won’t last for long.
His Q Tour success also earned him an invite to compete in UK Championship qualifying as an amateur and he duly dispatched Sunny Akani, Jiang Jun, Noppon Saengkham and Ricky Walden to reach the tournament proper and set up a first round meeting with Shaun Murphy. A hard-fought encounter ended 6-5 in the Englishman’s favour, with Zhao again showing the threat that he could pose on his top-level comeback.
Murphy had given a considered response to the younger man’s return to snooker ahead of the tournament. “It has to be said that Zhao Xintong was at the very lower end of those bans, he was never accused of cheating, he was never accused of fixing any matches,” the Masters champion explained. “He did know about it and that is, of course, against the rules.
“I’d say that it’s been a very difficult 18 months or so for him. He has served his time and he’s back competing. He was caught, he took his punishment on the chin, admitted it straight away, paid all his fines and since then he’s done everything right. There’s an element of rehabilitation, so he’s back.”
If there had been a glimpse in that round-one defeat of the undimmed talent that Zhao still possessed, his run in Sheffield so far has shown why he has long been tipped for the top.
He cut a swathe through four rounds of qualifying, making a remarkable 12 centuries as he beat Cheung Ka Wai (10-3), Long Zehuang (10-8), Lyu Haotian (10-4) and Elliot Slessor (10-8) to reach the Crucible. Once there, he dispatched last year’s finalist Jak Jones 10-4 in his opener before downing Lei Peifan 13-10, pulverising Chris Wakelin 13-5 and then producing that remarkable performance in the semi-final against O’Sullivan.
Comparisons have been made between the leftie and Jimmy White, who memorably fell short in all six of his World Championship finals. Now Zhao will have his own shot at snooker’s biggest prize.
“Two years ago I made a little mistake and now I come back, so I know how important snooker is for me,” said Zhao after beating Walden to seal his spot at the UK Championship last year. “I want to come back to the snooker table and get trophies. These are very big lessons for me, it makes me appreciate snooker more.
“This two years is very long for me, I keep practising every day. I know I’ll come back so I need to keep confident in myself so if I play well I can win anything. I keep practising and just need to come back. I know it’s very hard, but I think it made me stronger. Later I will be stronger.”
In 2021, Zhao launched his career by beating the likes of John Higgins, Jack Lisowski and Barry Hawkins before downing future world champion Luca Brecel 10-5 in the UK Championship final to announce his arrival among snooker’s elite. Nearly four years on, making history at the Crucible would be an even greater achievement.
English (US) ·