Ma Hailong has triumphed in the 2023 WSF Championship after a 5-0 defeat of Stan Moody in Australia on Saturday.
The 19 year-old dominated the showpiece affair, compiling a high break of 78 in the third frame of the contest at the Mounties Club in Sydney.
As the WSF junior champion from last week, 16 year-old Moody was already guaranteed his professional tour card, meaning Ma’s run to the final was enough to see him also land a two-year ticket.
But the young Chinese competitor made sure there was no doubting his merits as a future player on the pro circuit with a resounding whitewash win.
- CLICK HERE: Stan Moody wins WSF Junior Championship
Moody couldn’t replicate his best form, appearing to run out of gas at the last hurdle of what was an exhausting two-weeks of play.
Several frames in the final went close, but Ma’s superior pot and safety success rates ultimately proved to be the key difference.
Both players will compete on the professional main tour during the upcoming 2023/24 and 2024/25 snooker seasons.
After winning all four of his round-robin fixtures earlier this week, Ma reached the quarter-finals with victories over Wong Kwan Chun Wallace, He Kang, and Ankit Man Shrestha.
The teenager then defeated a couple of countrymen who were more widely tipped as being potential winners of the tournament.
In the last eight, Ma beat Liu Hongyu before a 4-2 success over former professional Gao Yang helped him through to the final.
Click here for the full list of results from the 2023 WSF Championship.
Featured photo credit: World Snooker Championship
