Zhao Xintong said that he “probably didn’t deserve to win” after losing 6-5 on a respotted black to Zhang Anda at the China Open on Tuesday.
Zhao had been the pre-tournament favourite but struggled to hit anywhere near his top form in Taiyuan.
The 2025 world champion compiled three half-century breaks to win the opening three frames, but back came Zhang with contributions of 134, 88, and 81 to lead 5-4.
Zhao managed to force a deciding frame that engrossed the big crowd, but it was his opponent who advanced instead after sinking the respotted black.
“I made far too many mistakes today, and I probably didn’t deserve to win,” Zhao said, as reported by the World Snooker Tour.
“I had a lot of chances in the last two frames. People might think that I play quite aggressively, but I actually think I’m quite conservative now.”
“There are a lot of shots that I don’t go for as I used to, and that is also part of the process of improving.
“I had prepared well for coming to Shanxi this time, and I didn’t expect to lose in the first round. I played too badly, and there was nothing I could do about it.”
Defeat for Zhao in the first round means that he will collect zero ranking points, damaging his chances of becoming world number one for the first time.
Judd Trump is guaranteed to end this tournament in top spot, but Zhao, Neil Robertson, and Wu Yize each have a realistic opportunity to replace the Englishman by the end of the upcoming Wuhan Open.
With Trump also out, a lot will depend on how far Robertson and Wu will go this week – especially with a lucrative top prize worth £250,000 on offer.
For Zhang, meanwhile, it was a valuable victory for the former International Championship winner as he continues his revival back up the rankings and toward the top 16 again.
“I feel very lucky,” Zhang said. “Today, we both didn’t play very well. It was a black-ball game, always 50-50. I think today was just my day.”
Elsewhere on day four, Stuart Bingham edged John Higgins 6-4 in a battle of former world champions while Chris Wakelin ousted Tom Ford by the same scoreline.
Hossein Vafaei enjoyed a bye through to the last 16 following the withdrawal of would-be opponent Mark Allen just before the tournament began.
The second round of the 2026 China Open will commence on Wednesday with the likes of Wu and Ronnie O’Sullivan returning to the fray.
The latter encounters Noppon Saengkham – a 6-3 winner against Judd Trump in round one – while world champion Wu takes on David Gilbert.
The other two games will pit Shaun Murphy against Xiao Guodong and Zhou Yuelong against Liu Hongyu.
Featured photo credit: WST
It took about 4 hours for a best of 11 match but the Zhao Xintong versus Zhang Anda was very entertaining match in my opinion. It seems Zhang Anda has Xintong’s number has he is up 3-1 going head to head. It was very refreshing to watch some fans carry in soda drinks while watching the game. The match lasted past midnight in China and there was not an empty seat anywhere. Despite the referee constantly waving his hand, neither players never once indicated any problem with the fan’s excitement. In the second half of the match Xintong was constantly playing catch up.
The most exciting part is that they had to play for the black ball to win because the last frame finished was tied. It has become my favourite match. Not necessarily about the quality of play although there were many brilliant long pots; but just the way the match unfolded. The match went past midnight in China and every seat at the venue was filled.
So we have Judd Trump, Mark Williams and John Higgins, Ding Junhui and Barry Hawkins losing in their first match in the tournament. Both Wu Yize and Kyren Wilson just etched out a 6-5 win each.
To add to the craziness, Mark Selby and Kyren Wilson clash in the next round and so do Xiao Guodong and Shaun Murphy.That leaves Neil Robertson, Wu Yize and Ronnie O’Sullivan with technically better paths towards the final. But the way things have been going maybe we will see someone outside of the top 16.
>Defeat for Zhao in the first round means that he will collect zero ranking points
Interesting (sorry, but I’m ignorant of how this sort of thing works on the WST) — presumably he was seeded, i.e. he did not have to qualify — looking at the draw, he lost in R32.
I assume R32 is the ‘first round’ in a typical ranking event (the Shootout is atypical); earlier rounds are qualifying rounds — if a player has to qualify, he has already won one or more matches related to an event before R32 — if such a player loses in R32, does he still get zero ranking points? — or does he get some ranking points just for making it through qualifying?
And vis-a-vis what I said earlier about Brecel, i.e. that he may find it difficult to finish high enough to avoid being dropped from the tour, this match can be seen as showing how tough the competition is: Zhang Anda won at least two matches in qualifying, then beat Zhao Xintong, a contender for #1, in R32.
Excellent question eah. I assumed since this tournament is coming back after a spell, they would have nothing to drop and all the money/points is a plus.
Basically if you lose your first match in a ranking event, you don’t get points. Zhao still gets the L32 prize money, but no ranking points as it was his first match in the tournament (as one of the seeds). The exception to this are the tournaments on the Players Series.
The Seeded Loser Rule: Under official World Snooker Tour rules, if a player is seeded directly into the main venue stages of a tournament without having to play in the qualifiers, they must win at least one match for their prize money to count toward the world rankings.
Trump will still receive a physical £10,000 bank payout for his time. However, because he failed to win a single match at the venue, that money is completely excluded from the official ranking lists, delivering a devastating blow to his World Number One cushion.
I hope this helps eah, it is all new to me.
Yes, that is correct.
Thank you, also to Mr Caulfield, for the explanation.