A Comeback for the Ages

The ultimate comeback story is complete. On Monday evening, Zhao Xintong was crowned World Snooker Champion—the first in history to come from China—just eight months after returning from an extended suspension.

With incredible composure and calm uncharacteristic of a first-time finalist on snooker’s biggest stage, Zhao outplayed three-time world champion Mark Williams in dominant fashion.

On the sport’s most prestigious stage, Zhao often played as if he were practicing casually in his local club. He wasn’t afraid to take on tough shots from long distances or sharp angles, sinking balls from everywhere and punishing Williams repeatedly for his errors.

Since Judd Trump, snooker hasn’t seen a talent like Zhao. He’s aggressive, fast, precise, and fearless. Now that he’s back on the professional circuit and still only twenty-eight, he could be a force in the game for many years.

Historic First for China and Asia

Zhao becomes only the fifth world champion in snooker history from outside the UK (excluding Australian Horace Lindrum’s 1952 win in a tournament where only two Australians participated after others withdrew over a dispute with the association). He is the first from Asia and, naturally, the first from China.

He’s also just the third player in history—after Terry Griffiths and Shaun Murphy—to win the world title after qualifying through the preliminary rounds, and the first to do it while officially holding amateur status.

A Long-Awaited National Celebration

China, whose influence in the sport grows steadily, had waited years for this moment. The closest before was Ding Junhui’s runner-up finish in 2016. That final drew around forty-five million viewers in China, making it the most-watched sporting event in the country that year. It remains to be seen how many tuned in for Zhao’s historic win.

“I’m in disbelief, it feels like a dream,” Zhao said emotionally, draped in the Chinese flag. “Thank you everyone. I was so nervous tonight. Williams is a legend and really put me under pressure. I’m not tired—we might have a little drink tonight.”

Mark Williams responded with praise: “It was a great tournament for me. I admire what Zhao did—coming through qualifiers, beating Ronnie, and beating me. What more is there to say? We’ve got a new superstar in the game.”

How the Final Played Out

Zhao entered the second day of the final with an eleven to six lead, stretching it to fourteen to seven before the third session’s mid-break. After the break, he widened the gap to fifteen to seven with a fifty-two break, but Williams responded with a sixty-six to make it fifteen to eight.

Zhao finished the third session strong, winning two more frames to lead seventeen to eight—just one frame from victory.

Fifty-year-old Williams, known for his humor and laid-back nature, tweeted before the final session: “One last session of a brilliant tournament with an amazing crowd. Let’s go out with a bang and sing ‘Delilah’ one more time.”

Zhao opened the evening session with a thirty-point break before missing, allowing Williams to step in with a century (one hundred and one) to close the gap to seventeen to nine. He then took the next two frames, making it seventeen to twelve with a ninety-six break.

Williams wasn’t done—he won a fourth straight frame to cut the lead to five. But after the mid-session break, a missed red ball allowed Zhao to clean up the table and seal the championship.

A Career of Highs and Lows

Zhao’s world title marks the high point of a rollercoaster career. Once dubbed a snooker prodigy, he shocked the sport at sixteen by beating the great Steve Davis six to one, leaving the legend stunned.

His rise to the top accelerated in 2021 when he won the UK Championship, one of snooker’s three major titles, followed by victory at the German Masters. But his fall came swiftly.

In January 2023, the World Snooker Tour suspended Zhao for suspected involvement in a major match-fixing scandal involving ten Chinese players. Zhao’s role was the smallest of all those implicated. He was not convicted of fixing any matches himself, but was found guilty of aiding in the fixing of two matches played by others and of betting on snooker games. He was banned for one year and eight months.

From Suspension to Champion

During his suspension, Zhao trained relentlessly. When it ended in September 2024, he returned as an amateur. He dominated the amateur tour and easily earned his way back to the professional circuit—though his status won’t become official until the start of next season. That meant Zhao had to enter the World Championship as an amateur, beginning his campaign almost a month earlier in the qualifying rounds.

In total, Zhao won nine matches and one hundred and eleven frames to lift the trophy. Along the way, he crushed snooker legend Ronnie O’Sullivan seventeen to seven in the semi-finals.

With the win, Zhao takes home a prize of five hundred thousand pounds and will enter the next season ranked eleventh in the world. Williams, who pockets two hundred thousand pounds, climbs to third in the rankings.