{"id":36626,"date":"2026-08-28T06:36:39","date_gmt":"2026-08-28T06:36:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gsrra.com\/?p=36626"},"modified":"2026-08-28T06:36:39","modified_gmt":"2026-08-28T06:36:39","slug":"chinas-zhao-rises-to-world-no-1-after-reaching-snooker-wuhan-open-semis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gsrra.com\/?p=36626","title":{"rendered":"China’s Zhao rises to World No. 1 after reaching snooker Wuhan Open semis"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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China’s Zhao Xintong competes during the quarterfinal match at the Wuhan Open 2026 snooker tournament in Wuhan, central China’s Hubei Province, Aug. 27, 2026. (Xinhua)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

China’s Zhao Xintong became the second Chinese player to reach the top of the world snooker ranking after beating Neil Robertson 5-1 on Thursday, while fellow Chinese Chang Bingyu and Xiao Guodong also advanced at the World Snooker Wuhan Open.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Zhao opened his quarterfinal against Robertson with breaks of 106 and 91 to take a 2-0 lead. Robertson capitalized on a mistake by Zhao to pull one frame back, but Zhao responded by winning the next three frames to seal the victory.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With world No. 1 Judd Trump and No. 2 Robertson both eliminated on the same day, Zhao moved to the top of the live rankings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Zhao said he felt “quite calm” about reaching No. 1. “Maybe if I think about this again later, I will be very happy,” he said after the match. “But I think I still have a long way to go to become a top-level player.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Asked about his next goal, Zhao said fans might hope he wins a Grand Slam or more titles, but he viewed those achievements as part of a longer process. “The most important thing is to enjoy the happiness that snooker brings me,” he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Zhao will face Xiao in the semifinals after Xiao defeated Mark Williams 5-3, ensuring that a Chinese player will reach the final.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Earlier on Thursday, China’s Chang Bingyu stunned Trump 5-1. Chang opened a 2-1 lead before winning the final three frames in succession. He sealed his first professional victory over Trump with a break of 132 in the final frame.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The win was an unexpected boost for Chang, who said he experienced some nerves after taking the 2-0 lead.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“When I was 2-0 up, I thought there was a chance I could win the match, and I did have some fluctuations mentally,” Chang said. “Fortunately, I managed to adjust in the end.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“He is my role model because he is also left-handed, and he is world No. 1 now,” Chang added. “Being able to beat him gives me a lot of confidence.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the English derby between seven-time world champion Ronnie O’Sullivan and Mark Selby, the latter took the opening two frames, while O’Sullivan responded with breaks of 87 and 96 to level the match at 2-2. O’Sullivan then moved ahead 3-2 after a tactical fifth frame in which he forced Selby into conceding after a snooker.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Selby leveled with a break of 53, but O’Sullivan then produced breaks of 80 and 129 to close out the match.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

O’Sullivan said he was surprised to come through against Selby and praised his upcoming opponent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Chang Bingyu is very talented and has the potential to become one of the best players of his generation in China because his game is very complete,” O’Sullivan said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Chang has previously noted O’Sullivan as the player he wants to emulate the most. And the two will meet Friday for a place in the final. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Reference Link:- https:\/\/english.news.cn\/20260828\/353a53af4c284b608e384f6cdecce0fa\/c.html<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

China’s Zhao Xintong became the second Chinese player to reach the top of the world snooker ranking after beating Neil Robertson 5-1 on Thursday, while fellow Chinese Chang Bingyu and Xiao Guodong also advanced at the World Snooker Wuhan Open. Zhao opened his quarterfinal against Robertson with breaks of 106 and 91 to take a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":28243,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"aside","meta":{"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[2],"tags":[28651,2307,34150,34149,34151,9886,34152],"class_list":["post-36626","post","type-post","status-publish","format-aside","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sample-category","tag-champion-2","tag-china-3","tag-snooker","tag-world-no-1","tag-world-snooker-wuhan-open","tag-wuhan-2","tag-zhao-xintong","post_format-post-format-aside"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gsrra.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36626","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gsrra.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gsrra.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gsrra.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gsrra.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=36626"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/gsrra.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36626\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":36627,"href":"https:\/\/gsrra.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36626\/revisions\/36627"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gsrra.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/28243"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gsrra.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=36626"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gsrra.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=36626"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gsrra.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=36626"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}