Ronnie O'Sullivan's hopes of an eighth World Snooker Championship crown were destroyed as Zhao Xintong thrashed him 17-7 with a session to spare in Sheffield.
Zhao took a stranglehold on the semi-final by winning all eight frames in a remarkable session on Friday morning - only the fourth whitewash of O'Sullivan's long Crucible career.
It meant a 12-4 advantage for Zhao and O'Sullivan, out of sorts after having the tip and ferrule on his cue changed overnight, was unable to force a momentum shift when play resumed on Friday evening.
Zhao's aggressive break-building piled the pressure on O'Sullivan and there was no stopping him becoming the second Chinese player to reach the World Championship final after Ding Junhui in 2016.
There was a lovely moment at the end as the two men shook hands and Zhao applauded his hero O'Sullivan.
O'Sullivan told BBC: "Zhao deserves his victory. He's played brilliant all tournament, so all credit to him. He played better than me.
"I'd just like to play all right, but I felt that I never gave him a game so that's a bit disappointing.
"I've been awful for quite a while. Those performances have been coming out quite regular recently."
He learned from the greatest. HE BEAT THE GREATEST!
— WST (@WeAreWST) May 2, 2025
Zhao Xintong 17-7 Ronnie O’Sullivan
What a performance! #HaloWorldChampionship pic.twitter.com/I1Cc6jkqQK
With the crowd right behind him, O'Sullivan needed a fast start in the evening to offer some hope of a comeback.
He had an early boost as Zhao - for just about the first time in the contest - missed a straightforward pot.
O'Sullivan capitalised and Zhao showed more fragility in the next frame by missing black off its spot for the deficit to be cut to six.
The match looked like turning but O'Sullivan, stretching for a red into the corner, missed and showed his clear disgust before Zhao cleaned up.
Zhao started to flow again and levelled the session with a magnificent 128 break, his third century of the match and the 100th of this year's World Championship.
O'Sullivan responded with 57 in the next frame, his first 50 break of the evening.
But Zhao hit back with a frame-winning 85 and moved to within one of victory as O'Sullivan lapsed again.
O'Sullivan stopped at 32 in the 24th frame, the story of the match in so many ways as he did not have control of the cue ball.
The 28-year-old Zhao cleared the table with an 88 break to ram home his superiority before taking the applause of the Sheffield crowd.
In the other semi-final Mark Williams fought back from a four-frame deficit against Judd Trump to level at 8-8.
Trump resumed 5-3 ahead and set down an early marker to extend his lead and suggest that he could run away with the match.
A break of 70 made it 6-3 and Trump pinched the next frame with a 65 clearance after Williams, on a break of 57, missed a black off the spot.
Williams replied with breaks of 105 and 84 before edging a scrappier 13th frame to trail 7-6.
Trump took the next without any big breaks but Williams shaded a tense 15th frame, sewing it up on the pink.
And a consummate 96 clearance from the Welshman ensured parity before the pair resume play on Saturday morning.
