It takes something truly special to overshadow the iconic Ronnie O’Sullivan at the World Snooker Championship, but Zhao Xintong achieved just that.
The Rocket was beaten with a session to spare in a remarkable showing from Zhao, who set the tone in a scintillating second session of their semi-final clash on Friday.
The 28-year-old from China left both the Crucible and wider television audience in awe as he whitewashed the seven-time champion 8-0 to take a commanding 12-4 lead heading into the evening, when he completed a 17-7 win.
Per the BBC, Zhao is just the fourth man ever to win every single frame in one session against O’Sullivan - the sport’s greatest-ever player - at the Crucible since his World Championship debut in 1993, with John Higgins, Graeme Dott and John Parrott having also achieved the feat.
Zhao can look forward to a final against either Judd Trump or Mark Williams, having come through qualifying and then thrashed both Jak Jones and Chris Wakelin as well as edging out compatriot Lei Peifan.
Who is Zhao Xintong?
Zhao burst onto the snooker scene as a gifted teenager and is one of a growing number of Chinese players to enter the professional ranks over the last decade or so, following in the footsteps of 15-time major-ranking title winner Ding Junhui.
He turned professional in 2016 and properly announced himself as one of snooker’s best young talents by winning the 2021 UK Championship in York, beating the likes of Higgins, Jack Lisowski, Barry Hawkins and then Luca Brecel.
Stylish left-hander Zhao followed that up with a second triumph at the Berlin Masters in January 2022, climbing up to eighth in the world rankings after beating Williams and Trump en route to dominating Yan Bingtao in the final.
He spent time as high as No6 in the rankings and looked on a potential path to become China’s first-ever world snooker champion, only for his career to be derailed after being caught up in a huge corruption scandal that rocked the sport in 2022.
Zhao was among 10 Chinese players banned by the World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association (WPBSA) in 2023, suspended from the World Snooker Tour (WST) for 20 months after accepting charges of being a party to another player fixing two matches and betting on matches himself.
Zhao - who did not fix a match himself - was ranked at No9 in the world at the time and had initially been banned for two years and six months, only for that to be reduced to one year and eight months due to early admissions and his guilty plea. He also had to pay £7,500 in costs.
It was the shortest suspension of the 10 handed out by the WPBSA Disciplinary Commission, with Liang Wenbo and Li Hang both given lifetime bans.
Lu Ning, Yan Bingtao, Zhao Jianbo, Chang Bingyu, Bai Langning, Chen Zifan and Zhang Jiankang were the other players to receive bans of varying lengths.
Zhao returned to competitive action last September after completing that suspension, winning four successive Q Tour Europe titles in Stockholm, Manchester, Vienna and Mons to finish top of the ranking list and earn a two-year tour card back on the World Snooker Tour.
He successfully came through qualifying for the UK Championship, where he was beaten 6-5 in the first round by Shaun Murphy on his return to top-level snooker at the York Barbican in November.
Zhao later won four qualifying matches to book his return to the World Championship, where he has made light work of Jones, Wakelin and now even O’Sullivan.
