Brilliant Zhang Stuns O’Sullivan
China’s Zhang Anda is through to his second final of the season after a sensational 9-6 defeat of seven-time World Champion Ronnie O’Sullivan in the semi-finals of the International Championship in Tianjin.
Zhang first turned professional back in 2009, but it has taken until this season for him to showcase his full potential. He defeated the likes of O’Sullivan and Anthony McGill on the way to making his maiden ranking final at the English Open. He had looked set for the title when he led Judd Trump 7-3, but lost six on the bounce to succumb to a 9-7 loss.
Today’s result for Zhang means that his compatriot Ding Junhui, who won the Six Red World Championship, will now miss next week’s Champion of Champions. Instead, the winner of Sunday’s final between Zhang and Tom Ford will secure the spot.
Tomorrow’s clash will be contested over the best of 19-frames with a top prize of £175,000 on the line, with both players vying for their maiden ranking title. If Zhang wins he will also knock Ding out of the top 16 in the world rankings and take his automatic place in the final stages of the MrQ UK Championship.
Defeat means world number one O’Sullivan will have to wait to secure the 40th ranking title of his career. However, his showing this week ensures he will remain on top of the world rankings for the time being, having seen off challenges from Judd Trump, Mark Allen and Luca Brecel. The Rocket now turns his attention to the Champion of Champions, where he will face the winner of tomorrow’s final in the opening round.
The afternoon session ended with the players level, after Zhang surrendered a two-frame. He had an opportunity to go 5-2 up, but missed the final pink and O’Sullivan pounced to claim two on the bounce and make it 4-4.
When they got underway this evening it was O’Sullivan who continued to push on and breaks of 52 and 54 on his way to securing a 6-4 advantage. However, from that moment on Zhang took control of proceedings.
A break of 83 from Zhang reduced his arrears to 6-5 and he then claimed a 35-minute 12th to restore parity at 6-6. He then cranked up the heat on his illustrious opponent with a fine contribution of 114 to lead 7-6. Zhang showed no signs of faltering as the finish line came into sight and took two tight frames after that to get over the line for a momentous 9-6 victory.
“I feel that the first session of the game was better than the second. When I was 6-4 behind, I tried not to think about the result and slowly adjusted my mentality and did a good job,” said world number 37 Zhang.
“When you are behind, you try to slowly get yourself back into the game. If you do that, you rarely think about winning or losing, you will not be afraid of mistakes, and you will be less nervous.
“I personally like to play the long matches, because my performance in these matches is quite good. It makes it easier for me to feel involved, and it will slowly get me into the rhythm of the game.”
O’Sullivan said: “He played well and deserved to win. He was the better player on the day, so fair play to him. I expected him to be like that as I’ve played him a few times, he was solid. He is a fantastic player, I don’t know where he has been for the last ten years.”
And the scores:
Some images of the match and Zhang’s press conference:
Eurosport shared two frames on their YouTube Channel:
I haven’t watched the match (yet) … a string of power cuts on my island has left me without internet for the best part of a day and a half. Yesterday evening the hubby and I spent a few hours in total darkness… it wasn’t that bad … 😇 … still, hopefully, they have fixed the issue now and it we can go back to normal in the coming hours and days.
That said, I’m not surprised. Zhang is an excellent break builder, he’s very precise. He has a good temperament as well and he had beaten Ronnie already this season.
I understand why Ronnie is wondering where Zhang has been over the last 10 years. Zhang turned pro in 2009, aged 17 and the next year he qualified for the Crucible and pushed Stephen Hendry to a decider in the first round. Everyone was surprised but I wasn’t because I had been watching the qualifiers that year and Zhang, who had started in the first round of the said qualifiers, had taken a few scalps along the way: he had beaten Craig Steadman (10-4), John Parrott (10-6), Andrew Higginson (10-8) and Ricky Walden (10-8). Amazingly, that year, 2010, there were two debutants at the Crucible : Zhang Anda and Tom Ford. And, amazingly again, they have never played each other in a professional match in the 13 years and a half they have both been on the main tour.
I would make Zhang the favourite for the title tomorrow. Whatever happens we will have a new ranking event winner, and whoever wins tomorrow will face Ronnie in the Champion of Champion next week… not sure I like the thought …
As for Ronnie it’s not all doom and gloom. His results in the last two tournaments have brought him as high as 10th in the one year list, meaning that he’s certain to be eligible for the 2024 World Grand Prix.
Overally Zhang was the better player BUT:
at 2-2 and at 6-4 Ronnie lost 2 frames because of the unlucky split.
ANd the second one was a big tourning point. Ronnie started to make 50+ breaks and that unlucky split changed the dinamic of the match.
At 6-5, Ronnie I think played a good tactical frame but what Ronnie did on the green was the worst shot ever…
And at 6-7 Ronnie and Zhang tried to splt 3 or 4 reds. Ronnie played a right shot and was unlucky not to continue the break. Few minutes later Zhang tried it too, and with few kisses he finished perfectly… Perfect summary…
The draw was good here but I start to wonder that age or the tennis elbow injury finally catches him around the quarter finals…
Absolutely good summary, kalacs. Ronnie will never have a better draw, but I wonder if he has more chances at the tiered system of the UK and some of the ITV tournaments with a lot fewer matches, provided he makes them. Or he gets stuck at 39 titles. No mean feat of course, but 40 is such a nice round number.
I hope this is not going to be Serena Williams’ situation. Before the maternity leave she dominated the tennis and it was matter of the time where and when Williams will win her 24th major. But after the maternity leave she wasn’t able to continue that dominance and stucked at 23.
40 would be a nice number.
But at least this season is now better than the whole last season…
Zhang was very lucky at times, although not as much as some people are saying on social media. He was also not at all slow, and demonstrated the full range of skills. Ronnie was poor at the beginning and the end, but showed some fluency in the middle of the match.
It’s quite a story for Zhang, who 3 years ago said he wasn’t sure if he would try to rejoin the professional tour. Mei Xiwen (also with a young family) made the opposite decision. Most people only know about the Stephen Hendry match, but in fact Zhang has been winning many CBSA events for several years. He just hasn’t performed on the main tour, often limited by slower cloths on outside tables.
In Doha, Ali Alobaidli beat Cheung Ka Wai to win the IBSF title. Alobaidli is from the host nation, is a 31-year old left-hander and a solid methodical player, rather then the flamboyant Cheung. To my amazement, the IBSF entrusted refereeing the final to… Pat Mooney!
Videos of the events are posted on the Qatar Billiards & Snooker Youtube channel. There are junior, senior, teams and women’s events. Michael Georgiou has been doing the commentary.
It is all very unfortunate, especially because – as you will see, although I did not see the end, neither do I desire to – it was really oscillating between hope and optimism and annoyance and misfortune. The gloom and doom I think derives from the fact that it looked like a very good opportunity to win that elusive 40th ranking title (even though I had serious worries about this match because despite his winning record, Ronnie did not have easy matches against playing Zhang Anda previously). I just wonder if he is every going to win that 40th – or it is just too many matches and that is exhausting. (Horribile dictu: maybe this heldover system is not so favourable and it would be more beneficial to suck it up, go into that windowless cubicle and play one match less at the main event. Not gonna happen, but it just occurred to me that these heldover people play one more match at the main venue than the others.)