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Zhou Yuelong

Zhou at the 2016 Paul Hunter Classic
Born	(1998-01-24) 24 January 1998 (age 26) Chengdu, Sichuan, China
Sport country	China
Nickname	The Jumping Dragon
Professional	2014–present
Highest ranking	17 (February–March 2021)
Current ranking	32 (as of 16 December 2024)
Maximum breaks	2
Century breaks	219 (as of 23 December 2024)
Best ranking finish	Runner-up (×3)
Medal record Representing  China Men's Snooker Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games 2017 Ashgabat Singles 2017 Ashgabat Team

Zhou Yuelong (Chinese: 周跃龙; born 24 January 1998) is a Chinese professional snooker player. He has been runner-up at three ranking events, the January 2020 European Masters, the 2020 Snooker Shoot Out, and the 2022 Northern Ireland Open.

Career

Between 2011 and 2014, Zhou was regularly selected to play in the wildcard round of Chinese ranking events. He could only win two of the nine he played in and was knocked out in the first round in both of those. Zhou won the 2013 IBSF World Snooker Championship which enabled him to join the snooker tour for the 2014–15 season.

2014/2015 season

Zhou turned pro in 2014. His first win as a professional came at attempt number one as he defeated Alfie Burden 5–3 to qualify for the 2014 Wuxi Classic, where he lost 5–3 to Graeme Dott in the first round. Zhou defeated compatriot Liang Wenbo 6–2 to qualify for the International Championship and won his first ever match at a ranking event by eliminating Chris Melling 6–1, before being edged out 6–5 by Ricky Walden. He made his debut in a ranking event outside China at the UK Championship, but lost 6–1 to Jimmy Robertson in the first round. At the minor-ranking Xuzhou Open, Zhou saw off Barry Pinches to reach the quarter-finals where Thepchaiya Un-Nooh beat him 4–2. This helped him finish 15th on the Order of Merit. Zhou's second last 32 appearance at a ranking event this season came at the China Open and, after winning the first two frames, he lost 5–2 to David Gilbert. He was the world number 75 after his debut season on tour.

It’s unbelievable – fantastic. It’s a huge tournament for us. Our dreams were to become champions since we first picked up the cue – and now they have come true. It’s very unexpected. Our goal was to make the knock out stage because we were in a tough group. After the group stage we realised that we had a good chance if we could play our best, so the confidence just built match by match.

Zhou was selected to take part in the non-ranking 2015 Snooker World Cup with 15-year old Yan Bingtao as part of China's "B" team; China were allowed a second team as the hosts. They were 50/1 outsiders but topped their group, knocking out England in the process, and then in the knock-out stages beat Australia, Wales and Scotland in the final and pocketed a cheque of US$200,000 between them. Defeated finalist Stephen Maguire stated that he believed he had watched two future world champions.

2015/2016 season

Zhou saw off Sam Baird 6–4 to qualify for the 2015 International Championship and beat Martin Gould 6–2 and Sanderson Lam 6–0 to reach the last 16 of a ranking event for the first time, where he lost 6–5 to Thepchaiya Un-Nooh. His World Cup win gained him entry into the Champion of Champions and he edged out reigning world champion Stuart Bingham 4–3, before losing 6–3 to Kyren Wilson in the quarter-finals. In the UK Championship Zhou defeated Craig Steadman 6–3, before exiting 6–1 in the second round to Shaun Murphy. He qualified for the China Open and lost 5–2 to John Higgins in the opening round. Zhou almost played in the World Championship for the first time, but was defeated in the final qualifying round 10–7 by compatriot Zhang Anda. He entered the top 64 in the world rankings for the first time at the end of the season, as he was 54th.

2016/2017 season

Zhou got to the last 16 of the 2016 International Championship with wins over Anthony McGill and Mark Joyce, but lost 6–2 to John Higgins. He progressed through to the same stage of the UK Championship by defeating his World Cup partner Yan Bingtao 6–5 and was beaten 6–2 by Shaun Murphy. Zhou dropped just two frames in four matches at the Welsh Open to reach his first ranking event quarter-final, but was whitewashed 5–0 by Scott Donaldson. He beat Christopher Keogan 10–5, Ian Preece 10–8 and Ben Woollaston 10–9 to qualify for his first World Championship and said he hoped to draw Ronnie O'Sullivan in the opening round. Instead he faced Ding Junhui and was defeated 10–5. Zhou broke in to the top 32 in the world rankings for the first time at the end of the season.

2017/2018 season

Zhou reached the semi-finals of a ranking event for the first time at the European Masters. He defeated Robbie Williams, Oliver Lines, Michael Georgiou, Peter Lines, and Anthony McGill, before losing 6–4 to Stuart Bingham. He has also reached the final of the Championship League (it was a non-ranking event), but lost 3–2 to John Higgins.

2018/2019 season

In his match against Lyu Haotian at the Indian Open, Zhou made his first official maximum break in the fourth frame, but eventually lost the match 3–4. Zhou also qualified for the World Snooker Championship again after beating Robin Hull, Liam Highfield, and Eden Sharav in the qualifying rounds. He recorded his first win in the tournament by defeating Mark Allen 10–7, but lost to Ali Carter 13–9 in the second round.

2019/2020 season

In January 2020, Zhou reached his maiden ranking final at the European Masters after wins over Mark Williams and Barry Hawkins, and Gary Wilson. The semi-final against Wilson started at 8pm and finished after midnight in a deciding frame. The following day Zhou was beaten by Neil Robertson 9–0 in the final, becoming the second player ever to be whitewashed in a two-session ranking event final. Zhou reached another ranking final in February, but lost to Michael Holt at the Shoot Out.

With the outbreak of COVID-19, Zhou returned to his home in west China. Facing a multitude of travelling and quarantine complications, he did not return for the resumption of the season, and missed the World Championship. He finished the season ranked 25.

2020/2021 season

Zhou had a stellar performance in the UK Championship, reaching his first Triple Crown semi-final. After his win over John Higgins in the last 16, Higgins tipped him to become the next Chinese player to make a major breakthrough in snooker. Zhou made his second maximum break of his career at the Scottish Open in his win over Peter Lines.

At the World Championship Zhou, ranked 17, was the top seed in the qualification rounds. He beat Xu Si 6–5, after producing a remarkable clearance to level the scores 5-5. However, in the final qualifying round he lost to Liam Highfield 10–7. Zhou finished the season ranked 17.

2021/2022 season

Zhou reached the quarter-finals of the second ranking tournament of the season, the British Open, losing in the deciding frame to Elliot Slessor. However, the rest of his season was comparatively unsuccessful. He missed three ranking events early in the season, and only reached the last 16 twice, in the German Masters and the Turkish Masters, losing to Judd Trump on both occasions. After Ding Junhui's fall from the top 16 at the UK Championship, Zhou was expected to make his Masters debut in January, but was pipped by compatriot Zhao Xintong. Zhou lost in the final qualifying round of the World Championship for the second year in a row to finish the season ranked 23, a drop of six places.

Performance and rankings timeline

1. It shows the ranking at the beginning of the season
2. ^ He was an amateur
3. New players on the Main Tour don't have a ranking
4. The event was called the Players Tour Championship Grand Final (2011/2012–2015/2016)
5. The event was called the Riga Open (2014/2015–2015/2016)

Career finals

Ranking finals: 3

Outcome	No.	Year	Championship	Opponent in the final	Score
Runner-up	1.	2020	European Masters	Neil Robertson	0–9
Runner-up	2.	2020	Snooker Shoot Out	Michael Holt	0–1
Runner-up	3.	2022	Northern Ireland Open	Mark Allen	4–9

Non-ranking finals: 1

Outcome	No.	Year	Championship	Opponent in the final	Score
Runner-up	1.	2018	Championship League	John Higgins	2–3

Pro-am finals: 2 (1 title)

Outcome	No.	Year	Championship	Opponent in the final	Score
Runner-up	1.	2016	Fuzhou Open	Zhang Anda	1–5
Winner	1.	2018	Zibo International Open	Yan Bingtao	5–2

Team finals: 4 (2 titles)

Outcome	No.	Year	Championship	Team	Opponent in the final	Score
Winner	1.	2015	World Cup	China B	Scotland	4–1
Runner-up	1.	2017	CVB Snooker Challenge	China	Great Britain	9–26
Winner	2.	2018	Macau Masters	Barry Hawkins Ryan Day Zhao Xintong	Mark Williams Joe Perry Marco Fu Zhang Anda	5–1
Runner-up	2.	2019	World Cup	China B	Scotland	0–4

Amateur finals: 2 (1 title)

Outcome	No.	Year	Championship	Opponent in the final	Score
Runner-up	1.	2013	IBSF World Under-21 Championship	Lu Ning	4–9
Winner	1.	2013	IBSF World Championship	Zhao Xintong	8–4

References

1. "Zhou Yuelong". World Snooker Tour. Archived from the original on 16 February 2024. Retrieved 13 February 2024.
2. "Zhou Yuelong becomes world champion 2013". International Billiards and Snooker Federation. 8 December 2013. Archived from the original on 12 December 2013. Retrieved 8 December 2013.
3. ^ "Zhou Yuelong 2014/2015". Snooker.org. Retrieved 23 April 2015.
4. "Three-Ton Rocket Crushes McGill". World Snooker. Archived from the original on April 27, 2015. Retrieved 23 April 2015.
5. "Asian Order of Merit 2014/2015". Snooker.org. Retrieved 23 April 2015.
6. "David Gilbert 5–2 Zhou Yuelong". Love Snooker. Archived from the original on 18 May 2015. Retrieved 23 April 2015.
7. "World Rankings After 2015 World Championship". World Snooker. Archived from the original on 7 May 2015. Retrieved 8 May 2015.
8. ^ "China Win Snooker's World Cup". World Snooker. Archived from the original on June 25, 2015. Retrieved 25 June 2015.
9. "Higgins Stuns Murphy in Last 16". World Snooker. Archived from the original on April 20, 2016. Retrieved 2 May 2016.
10. "Wilson Wins Group Three". World Snooker. Archived from the original on March 4, 2016. Retrieved 2 May 2016.
11. "Zhou Yuelong 2015/2016". Snooker.org. Retrieved 3 April 2016.
12. "Carter Thrilled by Crucible Return". World Snooker. Archived from the original on June 4, 2016. Retrieved 2 May 2016.
13. "Historic Seedings After 2016 World Championship". Snooker.org. Retrieved 24 September 2016.
14. "Zhou Yuelong 2016/2017". Snooker.org. Retrieved 14 March 2017.
15. "Scott Donaldson storms into Welsh Open semi-finals". Edinburgh Evening News. Retrieved 14 March 2017.
16. "O'Brien Wins Record Two-Hour Frame". World Snooker. Retrieved 14 April 2017.
17. "Ding Battles Past Zhou". World Snooker. Retrieved 20 April 2017.
18. "Rankings 2016/2017". Snooker.org. Retrieved 7 May 2017.
19. "ZHOU YUELONG - STUART BINGHAM". www.eurosport.com. Retrieved 2020-12-20.
20. "Higgins Retains Championship League Title". WPBSA. 2018-03-29. Retrieved 2020-12-20.
21. "Zhou Joins 147 Club". WPBSA. 2019-02-28. Retrieved 2020-12-20.
22. "World number six Allen falls to Zhou". BBC Sport. Retrieved 2020-12-20.
23. "Tense shootout on black sees Carter through". BBC Sport. 2019-04-29. Retrieved 2020-12-20.
24. "Robertson Whitewashes Zhou In Austria Final". WPBSA. 2020-01-26. Retrieved 2020-12-20.
25. "Holt Lands First Ranking Title". WPBSA. 2020-02-24. Retrieved 2020-12-20.
26. "John Higgins talks up Zhou Yuelong after UK Championship defeat to youngster". ca.finance.yahoo.com. Retrieved 2020-12-20.
27. "Zhou Makes MK Maximum". WPBSA. 2020-12-07. Retrieved 2020-12-20.
28. "Sizzling Xintong Hammers Hawk". World Snooker. 4 December 2021. Archived from the original on December 5, 2021. Retrieved 30 May 2022.
29. "Ranking History". Snooker.org. Retrieved 6 February 2011.
30. "Zhang Wins Chinese National Event". World Snooker. Archived from the original on 25 June 2016. Retrieved 25 June 2016.
31. "Zibo Joy for Zhou". WST. Archived from the original on January 30, 2020. Retrieved 30 January 2020.

External links

• Zhou Yuelong at the World Snooker Tour
• Zhou Yuelong at snooker.org

• Living people
• Chinese snooker players
• Sportspeople from Chengdu
• 1998 births
• 21st-century Chinese sportsmen