Zhao Xintong has defeated Ryan Davies 4-1 to win back-to-back WPBSA Q Tour Europe titles at Club 200 in Manchester, England.
Following his recent triumph at the previous event in Sweden – during which he also made the first-ever 147 break at a Q Tour event – China’s Zhao repeated the feat by again making a sensational maximum break on his way to lifting his second consecutive Trophy on snooker’s premier amateur circuit.
The 27-year-old leaps to the top of the latest Q Tour Europe ranking list and moves into pole position to regain a place on the World Snooker Tour with three events still to be completed this season.
His path to victory was not straightforward as he survived deciding-frames in his opening two qualifying matches against William Lemons and Ant Parsons, before further wins against Arsenii Korolev, Lewis Ullah, Mark Joyce, Hamim Hussain, Oliver Sykes and Craig Steadman sealed his place in the title match.
He would await England’s Ryan Davies, who improved upon his previous best Q Tour result of two semi-finals to reach the final for the first time in his career.
The former English Under-21 champion saw off Daan Leyssen, Florian Nuessle, James Cahill, Sean O’Sullivan and Event 2 winner Dylan Emery to set up a meeting with Zhao.
Having starred throughout the final day with four century breaks including a magical 147 in the last frame of his quarter-final win against Oliver Sykes, Zhao won two of the opening three in the final to move halfway to the title.
A top score of 65 in frame four would take the former UK Championship winner to the brink of victory, before Davies responded with a match-high 66 to keep his hopes alive at 2-3.
Davies threatened to force a deciding-frame as he began the frame with a run of 35, but it was Zhao who made 56 of his own, before Davies failed to escape from a snooker on the final red and left a free ball from which Zhao would make no mistake, appropriately sealing the title after one hour and 47 minutes.
The WPBSA Q Tour Europe continues with Event 5 which runs from 13-15 in Vienna, Austria.
