ZHAO XINTONG is the World Grand Prix champion after defeating Zhang Anda to glory.
The 28-year-old – who defends his Crucible crown in a little over two months – produced FIVE centuries on his way to a 10-6 win.
His stunning triumph in Hong Kong not only comes with another piece of silverware for the trophy cabinet – but with a big £180,000 jackpot.
Xintong also confirmed Stephen Hendry’s fears of a “sign of things to come” from Chinese snooker players with his victory.
Xintong and Zhang, 34, were level after the first session which finished 4-4.
But he could do little when both players returned as Zhao pulled away to land his first ranking title of the season.
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It’s a fourth overall and he’s now won all four of his ranking finals after wins at the 2021 UK Championship, 2022 German Masters and 2025 World Championship.
Revealing his fears ahead of the final, Hendry, 57, said: “It’s a sign of things to come. I was going to say a wake-up call to all the young talent in the UK. But where is the young talent?
“I’ve not seen anyone. Granted, I don’t watch a lot of amateur snooker.
“I don’t watch all the tournaments, but I’ve not seen anyone at 18, 19 and thought, ‘wow, he’s special, he’s going to be a world champion, definitely’.
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“There are good players, but no one at the moment I think is going to stop the Chinese storming through over the next five to ten years.
“It’s about the players in the UK raising their standards to match what’s happening in the Chinese players.
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“I think Zhao Xintong has inspired a lot of the other Chinese players to raise their game by winning the World Championship. They all look like world beaters at the moment.
“Listen, this is not going to happen every tournament. This is a bit of a freak result.
“I don’t think it’s going to be, in the next two to three years, regularly going to happen.
“But I think maybe looking further ahead, five to ten years, it could happen a lot.”