RONNIE O'SULLIVAN MAKES ZHAO XINTONG PREDICTION AND COMPARES HIM TO SNOOKER LEGEND

Ronnie O’Sullivan has predicted a bright future for Chinese sensation Zhao Xintong and compared him to snooker legend Stephen Hendry.

The 24-year-old returned to the sport last year having served his served a suspension following a match-fixing scandal.

Zhao has recovered from that scandal and has already made his mark at the Crucible this year, ousting last year’s beaten finalist Jak Jones.

The former world No.6 is back in action this afternoon against compatriot Lei Peifan in the second round and O’Sullivan is expecting Zhao to go from strength to strength.

‘Unbelievable talent. To me he’s the nearest thing to Stephen Hendry,” The Rocket told TNT Sports.

‘His scoring’s unbelievable, his positional play, his touch, he’s got power, he’s got everything this kid.

‘A lot of players will go for a long one and they want to get the white safe, he just rolls it into the black.

‘There’s a lot of pressure, you miss and these guys clear up, but he just rolls it in, bang, 100.

‘I think in three years, he’ll be No.1, world champion. He’s our Luke Littler, and he’s a cool looking guy, he’s got something about him.’

Jimmy White, meanwhile, went a step further than O’Sullivan and argued that Zhao was easily capable of going all the way this year.

He said: ‘There’s so many players who are going to have a say. An O’Sullivan, Xintong semi-final would be absolutely amazing,” White told TNT Sports.

‘I fancy Xintong to win it. People say he’s still an amateur, he’s not had a lot of experience at The Crucible, but the way he’s playing at the moment, a safety game against him wouldn’t make any difference, because once he gets on he’s winning one frame in one visit.

‘You keep doing that to opponents, say you’re only 5-3 in front, it just puts so much pressure on the other guy’s safety shot even if they’re playing really well.’

2025-04-25T12:53:24Z