Zhao Xintong broke into the final of the 2025 World Snooker Championship and became the second person in China, and is expected to win the first championship for China

On the 2nd local time, Chinese player Zhao Xintong defeated England's 7-time world champion O'Sullivan 17-7 in the semifinals of the 2025 Snooker World Championship, becoming the second Chinese player to advance to the final after Ding Junhui in 2016.

Zhao Xintong defeated 7-time world champion and idol O'Sullivan in the semifinals, becoming the second Chinese player to reach the final of the World Championships after Ding Junhui in 2016

A total of 10 Chinese players participated in this World Championships, and only Zhao Xintong, who broke through from the qualifying round, made it to the top 4 alone. In the final, he will face world No. 1, 2019 world champion Judd Trump or Wales star and three-time world champion Mark Brown. One of Williams' men.

The 28-year-old Zhao Xintong started the game with two consecutive games, but O'Sullivan won three games in a row. In the first stage, the two fought 4-4. In the second stage, the 49-year-old O'Sullivan made consecutive mistakes and was led 12-4 by Zhao Xintong by winning 8 games in a row.

O'Sullivan won 2 games in the 3rd stage, and Zhao Xintong also won 2 games to continue to lead 14-6. O'Sullivan only won one game after that, and Zhao Xintong won three games in a row to end the game 17-7.

O'Sullivan admitted that his performance was not as good as Zhao Xintong, and his 8th world championship dream ended in the semifinals

O'Sullivan, who won the world championship 8 times, still smiled and congratulated Zhao Xintong after the game, and the latter also gave a thumbs up to the "rocket" and signaled the audience to applaud his "idol". At the post-match press conference, Zhao Xintong thanked O'Sullivan again, "I have to thank him, he gave me a lot of help. To be honest, I really wanted to see him win the semi-final for the eighth time, but I won. Before the fight I thought I wouldn't be able to beat him. ”

O'Sullivan said: "Zhao Xintong has performed well since the start of the competition and deserves this victory. I've been out of form for a while, and I've been like that lately, and I've not even been able to put pressure on my opponents, so I'm disappointed. ”

Next, it depends on whether Zhao Xintong can win the world championship for China for the first time and make up for Ding Junhui's regret of ending as the runner-up at the World Championships 9 years ago.