There are some attention-grabbing predictions floating around after Zhao Xintong won the UK Championship on Sunday night, with big names in snooker tipping him to become a world champion, the best player on the planet and to take the sport to a new level.
The 24-year-old has suddenly transformed from a precocious but unproven talent to major winner with his triumph in York, beating Luca Brecel 10-5 in the final.
The dominant and stylish performance in the final was memorable, but as were wins earlier in the tournament against the likes of John Higgins, Jack Lisowski, Barry Hawkins and Thepchaiya Un-Nooh.
While this came out of nowhere in terms of Zhao only ever reaching one semi-final in his career before this week, it is not a great surprise to some in the game who have tipped him for the top from an early age.
Now with a Triple Crown title to his name, a string of snooker legends expect him to ascend right to the top of the sport.
‘He looks like he loves this game of snooker so much, it fascinates him,’ Jimmy White said on Eurosport. ‘What he can do must fascinate him because it fascinates us. He is a new superstar of snooker.
‘Ronnie O’Sullivan has been texting me on his way to the next tournament saying, “this kid’s on fire, he’s looking great, he’s not looking fazed” and he wasn’t, he was absolutely fantastic from start to finish. A worthy winner. He will win many, many trophies.
‘He will take it [snooker] to another level now because he can pot enormous amount of very difficult shots and make them easy. The only thing he hasn’t got is a tactical game so if he’s playing the likes of John Higgins, Mark Selby they will trap him a lot and he will give them easy opportunities. But if he’s potting them long balls, which he does better than anyone else, you won’t be able to stop him, he’ll keep knocking them in. Fair play to him.
‘The way he’s played today and all week, he’s here to stay. He’s going to be thereabouts at the business end of most tournaments because he’s not going to stop playing, not going to do the wrong things. He’s going to keep practicing and win more trophies.’
Six-time world champion Steve Davis reckons Zhao could build on his first major win and beat his compatriots to become the first Chinese world champion.
‘If he can use this as a springboard for the rest of the season he can really force his way into the game, strongly,’ Davis told the BBC.
‘He can give himself every chance of being the first Chinese world champion. He’s got the credentials for it, who’s to say this guy’s not the one?’
Davis has been aware of Zhao’s talent for some time, after being walloped 6-1 by him at just 16 years old at the 2013 International Championship.
‘This boy was astonishingly good and better than anybody I have ever seen at that age – and that includes Ronnie O’Sullivan! He outplayed me,’ Davis said eight years ago. ‘I didn’t see anybody jumping up and down in the air when he beat me.
‘It didn’t seem to come as a surprise to anybody. He certainly wasn’t fazed about playing me.’
Ronnie O’Sullivan has long been a big fan of Zhao’s talent, having practiced with him in the past and even before the 24-year-old had played his quarter-final game in York, the Rocket was singing his praises.
‘I think he’s amazing, I think he’s our [Roger] Federer. I’ve never seen a more talented snooker player,’ O’Sullivan said on the BBC last week.
‘He could do with maybe tightening up. I watch him sometimes, I was a bit like that but then I got [Ray] Reardon round me for a couple of years and you start to play a better defensive game.
‘He needs that because when them frames go a bit scrappy he looks like he’s always going to come off second best. But he’s good, he’s unbelievable.’
Ahead of the final with Brecel, O’Sullivan said that if he showed he could handle the pressure then he could be the world’s best player within two years. Something he, of course, did prove in York.
‘If he shows he’s got bottle today then he, potentially within two years, will be the best player in the world,’ the Rocket said on Eurosport on Sunday.
‘If he can stand up to pressure, there is no player on the circuit that has got the complete game like him.’
‘He’s like Steve Davis but with Jimmy White’s talent. Very, very scary.’
There were further plaudits for the new UK champ from snooker pundits, with both Alan McManus and John Parrott not expecting this win to just be a flash in the pan.
McManus told Eurosport on Monday: ‘He’s a fabulous little champion now we’ve got and he’s going to be really strong within our sport for at least 15 years, maybe 20.’
Former world champion Parrott told the BBC: ‘If he keeps playing the way he’s playing and makes any amount of improvement then he’s going to be around the business end of a lot of tournaments.
‘He is absolutely brim full of talent and now he’s found his way in snooker and found out how to win, he’s going to be very dangerous and horrible to play in the draw for anyone who gets him.’
World number four Neil Robertson was also watching on from home as Zhao won the title and he would be surprised if that was the only trophy he puts on his CV in the coming years.
Congratulations @WwwXintongzhao Welcome to the club as another overseas player to win a ranking event and lift this prestigious title! The 1st of many Iâm sureð¥ð¨ð³ð
Zhao’s £200,000 top prize in York has seen him jump from #26 to #9 in the world rankings and he will have plenty more opportunities to add to his trophy cabinet as a result.
He will make his Masters debut in January against John Higgins and has also secured his spot in the World Grand Prix this month and forthcoming Players Championship and Tour Championship later in the season.
The Cyclone has certainly gone up in the bookmakers’ estimations, with World Championship sponsor Betfred installing him as a 20/1 shot to win the world title at the Crucible next year.
That makes him joint seventh favourite alongside last year’s finalist Shaun Murphy and only behind Judd Trump, Mark Selby, Neil Robertson, Ronnie O’Sullivan, John Higgins and Kyren Wilson.
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