Zhao Xintong

Zhao Xintong
birthday	April 3, 1997 (age 24)
place of birth	Xi'an
nationality	People's Republic of China
professional	since 2016
prize money	£580,387 (as of 30 January 2022)
Highest break	144 ( Championship League 2021 )
Century Breaks	103 (as of January 30, 2022)
Main Tour successes
World Championships	–
Ranked tournament wins	2
Minor Tournament Wins	–
World Rankings
Highest WRL place	9 ( December 2021– )
Current	9 (as of January 24, 2022)
More Achievements

Zhao Xintong ( Chinese 赵心童, pinyin Zhào Xīn Tóng ; born April 3, 1997 in Xi'an ) is a Chinese snooker player . The two-time amateur runner - up has been playing professionally on the Main Tour since 2016 and won the gold medal at the 2017 Asian Indoor & Martial Arts Games . As a professional player, he won one of the most important snooker tournaments , the UK Championship 2021 .

Career

2012-2015: First successes as an amateur

In June 2012, Zhao Xintong attracted international attention for the first time when he reached the round of 16 of the PTC tournament in Zhangjiagang , where he narrowly lost 4-3 to Stephen Lee from England. A month later, he made it to the quarter-finals of the U21 World Cup , which he lost 6-3 to Hammad Miah . In September of the same year, he took part in the Shanghai Masters as a wildcard player, but was eliminated in the wildcard round. A few days later, he reached the second round of the PTC event in Yixing . In October 2012, Zhao reached the final round of a full world rankings tournament for the first time by beating Ken Doherty in a wildcard round at the International Championship . However, in the first round he lost 5-6 to Matthew Stevens . Zhao then reached the second round of the PTC tournament in Zhengzhou in the 2012/13 season , as well as the final round of the Haikou World Open and the China Open 2013 , where he was eliminated in the first round. In May 2013 he made it into the semi-finals of the Asian Championship , which he lost 6-3 to eventual Asian champion Saleh Mohammadi .

In the 2013/14 season , Zhao was eliminated in the wild card rounds at both the Wuxi Classic and the Shanghai Masters before reaching the round of 32 at the 2013 Zhengzhou Open . There, however, he was defeated by eventual tournament winner Liang Wenbo 4-0. In October 2013, Zhao achieved his best result in a full ranking tournament by reaching the round of 16 of the International Championship . A month later he made it into the finals of the amateur world championship . There, however, he lost to his compatriot Zhou Yuelong 4:8 and thus just missed out on a professional place on the Main Tour 2014/15 .

At the 2014 China Open , Zhao again wildcarded to the finals, but was eliminated in the round of 64 by Welshman Michael White . In May 2014 he made it to the semi-finals of the U21 World Cup , narrowly losing 6-7 to Ireland's Josh Boileau . In June 2014, Zhao reached the second round of a world ranking tournament at the Wuxi Classic . However, he was defeated there by the Englishman Shaun Murphy with 2:5. In the same year he also reached the round of 16 of the Shanghai Masters , the round of 32 of the International Championship and the semi-finals of the World Amateur Championship . In March 2015, Zhao again made it to the round of 64 as a wild card player at the China Open , where he was eliminated by Welshman Mark Williams .

2015/16: Amateur player on the Main Tour

At the end of the season he tried to qualify for the Main Tour through Q-School . At the second tournament he reached the decisive final of his group. He took the lead against Duane Jones three times and, after equalizing three times, lost the decision frame with 60:67 points. Despite failing to qualify, the tournament's Order of Merit allowed him to participate as an amateur in qualifying tournaments for a number of world ranking tournaments in the 2015/16 season. At the Australian Open he reached the third of four rounds, at the International Championship there was only one qualifier, which he won 6-0 against Stuart Carrington and thus again moved into the final round of a major tournament. There he played the highest break of the tournament with 142 points in the first round match against John Higgins , but still lost 2:6 to the eventual winner of the tournament.

In November 2015 he reached the final of the amateur world championship for the second time and lost it 6:8 against the Indian Pankaj Advani . In December 2015 he took part in the UK Championship for the first time , but was eliminated in the first round by Mark Allen . A few days later he defeated his compatriot Cao Yupeng in the qualifier for the German Masters 2016 and then qualified for the world rankings tournament taking place in Berlin for the first time with a 5-1 win against amateur player Ashley Hugill . In the main round in February 2016, he lost 5-2 in the round of 32 to eventual finalist Luca Brecel . A few days later, he was eliminated by Ben Woollaston in qualifying for the China Open . At the 2016 Welsh Open , which had no qualifying round, he lost to Mark Davis of England in the first round . As a finalist at the 2015 World Amateur Championships, Zhao was invited by the WPBSA to compete in the World Professional Championships qualifiers in April 2016 . There he defeated the Englishman Rod Lawler 10:9 in the first round after a 2:6 deficit before he was eliminated in the second round, despite a 6:3 lead after the first session, with 8:10 against Kurt Maflin .

2016/17: First season as a professional

Zhao Xintong at the 2016 Paul Hunter Classic

In May 2016, Zhao, as the 2015 amateur world runner-up, was given a Main Tour spot for the following two seasons after qualifying world champion Pankaj Advani relinquished his spot. He started his first professional season with a 4-3 win over Tom Ford in qualifiers for the Indian Open . His first major success as a professional was reaching the round of 32 at the Riga Masters . Two weeks later, however, he was eliminated from the main tournament of the Indian Open in Hyderabad in the round of 64 against Gary Wilson . He also reached the round of the last 64 at the Paul Hunter Classic 2016 and at the English Open 2016. At the tournament in Manchester he lost 3:4 to multiple world champion Ronnie O'Sullivan . He also made it to the round of 64 at the 2016 International Championship and the 2016 UK Championship . In December 2016, he qualified for the main round of the 2017 German Masters with a 5-1 win over former world champion John Higgins . In Berlin he defeated Akani Songsermsawad 5-0 and reached the round of 16 in a ranking tournament for the fourth time. In his first professional round of 16 outside of China, he initially took the lead against Allister Carter , but ultimately had to admit defeat 4-5. As the season progressed he got three more victories, one at the snooker shoot-out and two at the Gibraltar Open . In the 2017 World Cup qualifier, he faced Mark Williams , the highest-seeded competitor in the qualifier , in the first round . Against the Welshman he came from a 4-0 deficit to a 4-4 and took a 7-5 lead before eventually losing 7-10. He finished his first professional season in 87th place in the world rankings .

2017/18: Second professional season

In the 2017/18 season he was eliminated from the first two tournaments in the qualifying round. At the CVB International Challenge , he was part of the Chinese team that lost to Great Britain in 6:29 (frames). At the 2017 Paul Hunter Classic , Zhao reached the round of 16, losing 4-2 to eventual finalist Shaun Murphy . It was his best result in a ranking tournament this season until the World Cup. At the beginning of September 2017, he took a 2-0 lead against eventual tournament winner John Higgins in the round of 64 at the Indian Open , but was eventually beaten 3-4 by the Scot. Shortly thereafter, he won the individual gold medal at the 2017 Asian Indoor Martial Arts Games by beating Hossein Vafaei 4-2 in the final and shared the team bronze medal with Yan Bingtao and Zhou Yuelong . He finished in the top 64 in five other full-fledged ranked tournaments this season leading up to the Worlds, including the 2017 European Masters and the 2017 International Championship and UK Championship 2017 , where he lost to Mark Selby , Mark Allen and Marco Fu respectively . At the 2018 Gibraltar Open , the second Pro-Am tournament of the season, he reached the round of 32, losing to compatriot Zhang Yong . However, because he never got past the second round in the major ranking tournaments, he did not move in the world rankings. He started the season as number 72 and finished it at number 77 and lost his pro status as a result.

2018/19: First move into the Crucible

The Chinese took part in the Q School again in May 2018 and at the second tournament he managed to immediately re-qualify for the Main Tour. He defeated Dechawat Poomjaeng 4-1 in the decider.

At the beginning of his third professional season , he defeated Shaun Murphy , among others , at the Riga Masters and reached the round of 16. After making the round of 64 at the World Open , he advanced to the quarterfinals of a ranking tournament for the first time at the China Championship , beating Anthony McGill , Fergal O'Brien and reigning world champion Mark Williams . In the round of the top 8, he then beat Barry Hawkins 5:4 and thus reached the semi-finals for the first time, in which he was beaten by world number one Mark Selby 4:6. At the 2018 International Championship , he reached the round of 32, losing to compatriot Ding Junhui (4-6). In addition to first-round defeats at the Northern Ireland Open and the UK Championship and the qualification from the German Masters 2019 , he reached the sixteenth final at the Scottish Open 2018 by the end of the year , in which he again lost to Ding Junhui (3:4).

In early 2019, Zhao earned his first World Grand Prix spot as one of the top 32 players in the first half of the season , but lost his opening game 4-1 to Stuart Bingham . A little later, at the Welsh Open , after defeating Alexander Ursenbacher , among others , he reached a quarterfinal for the second time. He met Stuart Bingham again, whom he now lost 5-2. By the end of the season, he had reached the round of 32 twice more ( 2019 Snooker Shoot-Out , 2019 Indian Open ) and failed to qualify at the China Open for the fourth straight year.

In qualifying for the World Cup , he defeated Adam Lilley (10-2), Noppon Saengkham (10-5) and Matthew Selt (10-4) and thus made it into the World Cup finals at the Crucible Theater for the first time at the fourth attempt . In Sheffield he met three-time world champion Mark Selby in the first round, against whom Zhao had led 3-0, 5-1 and 6-5 in the meantime, before the Englishman turned the game and finally prevailed 10-7. Reaching the World Cup finals saw Zhao rise to 59th in the world rankings at the end of the season, making it into the top 64 for the first time.

2019/20: Climbed into the top 32

Zhao 's fourth pro season began with two early losses. It was only at the 2019 China Championship that he made it past the round of 64 and, after defeating Ding Junhui , among others , reached the round of 16, where he narrowly lost to Barry Hawkins (4-5). Three weeks later he also finished in the top 16 at the English Open , this time losing to David Gilbert (1:4). After being knocked out in the round of 64 at the World Open , again by Gilbert, and losing his opening game at the Northern Ireland Open , he reached his first semi -finals at the UK Championship , beating Stuart Bingham 1: 6 had to admit defeat. Another first-round defeat followed at the last tournament of 2019, the Scottish Open .

In the second half of the season, Zhao achieved some better results. He reached the round of 16 three times (at the European Masters , the World Grand Prix and the Welsh Open ). He achieved his best result of the season at the German Masters 2020 , where he defeated defending champion Kyren Wilson (5:4) and reached the quarterfinals, where he lost 3:5 to Shaun Murphy . In June 2020, Zhao, who first moved into the Crucible the previous year, along with several other players, canceled his participation in the 2020 World Cup qualifiers due to the COVID-19 pandemic . In the world rankings , he improved by 30 places over the course of the season and finished the season in 29th place.

2020/21: Fifth professional season

Zhao started his fifth pro season with two wins in his first-round group at the Championship League , qualifying for the second round. Eventually he made it into the semi-finals group, where he won against former world champion Mark Selby , among others, and narrowly missed out on making the final as second-placed behind Judd Trump . After a first-round defeat at the European Masters , he made at least the second round in all tournaments in the first half of the season. He achieved his best results at the Northern Ireland Open (round of 16) and at the World Grand Prix , where he reached the quarterfinals, among other things, by beating John Higgins , in which he had to admit defeat to Jack Lisowski with 3:5.

In the second half, Zhao consistently made it past the opening round, but failed to progress past the round of 32. He failed at the WST Pro Series in the intermediate round as group seven and at the Gibraltar Open he lost in the sixteenth final with 0:4 against David Gilbert . In qualifying for the 2021 World Cup , Zhao was seeded in the third round. However, after a 6-3 win against Kacper Filipiak in the opening match, he was narrowly beaten by Englishman Sam Craigie 9-10 in the decisive qualifier . In the world rankings , he improved to 26th place at the end of the season.

2021/22: Winner of the UK Championship

At the start of the 2021/22 season , Zhao suffered multiple opening defeats, advancing past the first round only twice in the first half of the season. After reaching the round of 32 at the English Open , he advanced to the final of the UK Championship in December 2021 by beating John Higgins , Jack Lisowski and Barry Hawkins , among others , beating Belgian Luca Brecel with 10 :5 and won a world ranking tournament for the first time.

Victory at the UK Championship propelled Zhao into the top 16 in the world rankings for the first time, allowing him to compete in the Masters in early 2022 . At the invitation tournament in London , however, he had to accept an opening defeat against John Higgins. After failing in the first round of the snooker shoot-out , he defeated the defending champion and world number one Judd Trump at the German Masters before beating his compatriot Yan Bingtao 9-0 in the final and becoming the second Chinese after Ding Junhui (2014) in the tournament won in Berlin . After Steve Davis ( 1989 Grand Prix ) and Neil Robertson ( 2020 European Masters ), Zhao became the third player to go to a clean sheet in a two-session ranking tournament final.

successes

Result	year	competition	final opponent	final score
amateur tournaments
finalist	2013	IBSF World Championship	China People's Republic Zhou Yuelong	4:8
finalist	2015	IBSF World Championship	India Pankaj Advani	6:8
multisport events
winner	2017	Asian Indoor & Martial Arts Games	Iran Hossein Vafaei	4:2
Ranked Tournaments
winner	2021	UK Championship	Belgium Luca Brecel	10:5
winner	2022	German Masters	China People's Republic Yan Bingtao	9-0

season overview

competition

2012/
13

2013/
14

2014/
15

2015/
16

2016/
17

2017/
18

2018/
19

2019/
20

2020/
21

2021/
22

World Ranking ^WRL

AP
EP

–

–
87

72
77

–
59

59
29

29
26

26

Triple Crown Tournaments

UK Championship

Legend
S	winner
f	finalist
HF	semifinalist
vf	Quarterfinalist
AF	round of 16
LX	Defeated in the Round of X
RX	Loss in Round X
WR	Loss in the wild card round
QR	defeat in qualifying
NQ	Not qualified
–	not participated
–	no world ranking
n / A.	not discharged
k. R	no ranking
TS / TN	Tournament wins / participation
AP	Ranking position at the beginning of the season
EP	Ranking position at the end of the season

personal data
SURNAME	Zhao Xintong
ALTERNATIVE NAMES	赵心童 (Chinese)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	Chinese snooker player
BIRTH DATE	April 3, 1997
PLACE OF BIRTH	Xi'an