Zhao Xintong took one other step in the direction of regaining his skilled standing after profitable Q Tour 4 in Manchester on Sunday.
The Chinese language competitor beat Ryan Davies 4-2 within the ultimate to seal the £3,000 prize and transfer to the highest of the 2024/25 Q Tour rankings.
Success represents his second in a row on the newbie circuit that gives a gateway to the skilled World Snooker Tour.
It signifies that the 27 year-old has emerged with the silverware in two out of the three Q Tour occasions he’s participated in since getting back from his snooker ban.
Zhao turned embroiled within the match-fixing scandal that rocked the game greater than a 12 months in the past, however he has been free to return to aggressive motion since September.
The Q Tour offers one of the crucial apparent routes again to the primary tour, the place many really feel the two-time former rating occasion winner belongs.
Zhao as soon as once more demonstrated the pure expertise at his disposal when, for the second Q Tour occasion in succession, he compiled an impressive 147 break.
Will probably be attention-grabbing to see if he can carry this degree of kind into subsequent week’s UK Championship qualifiers having obtained an invited from the WPBSA to take part on this 12 months’s draw.
Zhao memorably captured the 2021 UK Championship crown by defeating Luca Brecel earlier than touchdown the German Masters title a few months later in Berlin.
He reached a career-high of quantity six on the earth rankings and was considered the brightest younger prospect within the recreation earlier than his profession unravelled amid the ban.
However with three occasions left on the European swing of the Q Tour, Zhao is now in a powerful place to regain his standing among the many elite.
The highest-ranked participant on the European Q Tour rankings will obtain an computerized two-year card to compete on the skilled circuit.
Three further spots will likely be up for grabs by a play-off match involving high-ranked gamers on the European Q Tour and others from the World Q Tour sequence of occasions held around the globe.
Following Q Tour 4, Zhao Xintong takes the entrance with a complete haul of £6,000 inserting him forward of Dylan Emery and Andres Petrov – winners of Q Tour 2 and Q Tour 1 respectively.
The fifth Q Tour match is scheduled for December 13-15 in Vienna.
Q Tour Occasion 4
Chosen Outcomes
Final 16
Connor Benzey 4-2 Joshua Thomond
Craig Steadman 4-2 Iulian Boiko
Oliver Sykes 4-1 Aidan Gallagher
Zhao Xintong 4-1 Hamim Hussain
Ryan Davies 4-3 James Cahill
Sean O’Sullivan 4-2 Harvey Chandler
Dylan Emery 4-2 Kayden Brierley
Gerard Greene 4-2 Sean Maddocks
Quarter-Finals
Craig Steadman 4-1 Connor Benzey
Zhao Xintong 4-1 Oliver Sykes
Ryan Davies 4-2 Sean O’Sullivan
Dylan Emery 4-2 Gerard Greene
Semi-Finals
Zhao Xintong 4-1 Craig Steadman
Ryan Davies 4-0 Dylan Emery
Last
Zhao Xintong 4-2 Ryan Davies
European Q Tour Rankings
1. Zhao Xintong – £6,000
2. Dylan Emery – £3,900
3. Andres Petrov – £3,300
4. Craig Steadman – £2,900
5. Ryan Davies – £2,600
6. Ryan Thomerson – £2,400
7. Harvey Chandler – £2,000
8. Steven Hallworth – £1,700
9. Mark Joyce – £1,700
10. Iulian Boiko – £1,400
Click on right here to view the complete Q Tour rankings
(snooker.org)
Featured picture credit score: WPBSA