World Snooker Championship 2025: Zhao Xintong continues march towards Crucible with three-century victory as Jackson Page fires his first 147
Updated 14/04/2025 at 06:45 GMT+1
Former UK champion Zhao Xintong took his century tally to nine for the week in booking his spot in the final qualifying round of the World Championship with a 10-4 win over Lyu Haotian on Sunday at the English Institute of Sport in Sheffield. Zhao produced three tons as he overpowered world No. 37 Lyu. Elsewhere, Jackson Page hit the first 147 of his career.
'These three players could be the next O'Sullivan, Higgins and Williams'
Video credit: TNT Sports
Zhao Xintong continued his exceptional scoring form to book his spot in the final round of World Championship qualifying with a 10-4 win over fellow Chinese player Lyu Haotian in Sheffield.
Former UK champion Zhao, playing under amateur status ahead of his return to the professional ranks next season, led Lyu from start to finish as he ended the first session 6-3 ahead before sealing his progress by claiming four of the final five frames.
After completing heavy-scoring wins over Cheung Ka Wai (10-3) and Long Zehuang (10-8) in the previous two rounds, Zhao again showed why he is one of the favourites for the title as breaks of 108, 87, 69, 51, 90, 137, 59 and 116 illustrated his quality.
He will meet Elliot Slessor over two sessions on Tuesday for a place in the last-32 draw ahead of the opening day at the Crucible on Saturday.
Only Judd Trump, Mark Selby, Kyren Wilson, Ronnie O'Sullivan, Neil Robertson, John Higgins and Shaun Murphy are rated above Zhao with the bookmakers.
Only Alex Higgins (1972), Terry Griffiths (1979) and Shaun Murphy (2005) have come through qualifying to claim the sport's most coveted title, with Welshman Jak Jones reaching the final last year as a qualifier before losing 18-14 to 12th seed Kyren Wilson at the Crucible.
Zhao was ranked world No. 6 before he was banned for 20 months after his involvement in a match-fixing probe in 2023, but has been invited to chase the £500,000 first prize after booking his return to the main circuit as an amateur via a first-placed finish on the Q Tour Europe ranking list.
Slessor ended the hopes of former Crucible semi-finalist Marco Fu with a 10-6 victory after opening with a break of 131 on his way to leading 6-3 after the first session.
He added two more 60-plus efforts to his total of four in the match to advance by winning seven of the final 10 frames from 3-3.
Meanwhile, Jackson Page hit the first 147 break of his career, and the 215th of the modern professional era, in the eighth frame on Sunday on his way to opening up an 8-1 overnight lead against Allan Taylor before they play to a finish on Monday afternoon.
Breaks of 63, 53, 109, 82, 147 and 94 left Page two frames away from the final qualifying round with Taylor only winning the third frame with a run of 73.
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World Championship 3rd round qualifying latest
- Lyu Haotian 4-10 Zhao Xintong
- Elliot Slessor 10-6 Marco Fu
- Chris Wakelin 10-5 Xing Zihao
- Tom Ford 7-10 Ross Muir
- Ben Woollaston 10-9 Mark Davis
- Noppon Saengkham 7-10 Sunny Akani
- Ryan Day 10-5 Sanderson Lam
- Martin O'Donnell 10-8 Jordan Brown
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