Zhao Xintong, currently an amateur after being suspended from the table due to match-fixing allegations, finished off Ronnie O'Sullivan in the semi-finals of the World Snooker Championship at Sheffield's Crucible Theatre.

The 28-year-old Chinese, a UK Championship winner and widely regarded as one of the sport's greatest talents, won by a resounding 17-7 after dominating the Rocket in the second session, winning by an impressive 8-0. In the third session, Zhao lost the first two games but then found his ruthless break building again to end the clash a session early. The Asian finished with 12 half-century breaks and three 100+ runs.

He is the second Chinese to play in a World Championship final after Ding Junhui in 2016. Ding lost then to Mark Selby.

"Zhao deserves to win. He's been playing brilliantly all tournament, so he deserves all the praise. He played better than me. I wasn't able to match him, which is disappointing. It's been awful for a while. These performances have been there for the last four years", admitted the Rocket after his loss, while Zhao shared the following after the two embraced warmly after the final frame:

"He's my idol. To be honest, I didn't want to win now because I wanted him to lift an eighth world title here".

His opponent in the final will be the winner of the match between Mark Williams and Judd Trump, where the third session starts at 8-8. | BGNES