Zhou Yuelong

Zhou Yuelong (Chinese: 周跃龙, Pinyin: Zhōu Yuèlóng; born 24 January 1998) is a Chinese professional snooker player.

Zhou Yuelong

Paul Hunter Classic 2016
Born	(1998-01-24) 24 January 1998 Chengdu, China
Sport country	China
Nickname	Jumping Dragon, Chengdu Chalktime
Professional	2014–
Highest ranking	22 (February 2020)
Current ranking	22 (as of 27 June 2020)
Career winnings	£368,695
Highest break	147: 2019 Indian Open
Century breaks	100
Best ranking finish	Runner-up (2020 European Masters, 2020 Snooker Shoot Out)
Medal record Representing  China Men's Snooker Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games 2017 Ashgabat Singles 2017 Ashgabat Team

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.[1]

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.[2] 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.[3] 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.[2] 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.[4] 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.[5] He was the world number 75 after his debut season on tour.[6]

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 after winning the Snooker World Cup.[7]

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.[7]

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.[8] 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.[9] Zhou made his debut in a ranking event on British soil at the UK Championship and 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.[10] 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.[11] He entered the top 64 in the world rankings for the first time at the end of the season, as he was 54th.[12]

2016 Paul Hunter Classic

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.[13] 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.[14] 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.[15] Instead he faced Ding Junhui and was defeated 10–5.[16] Zhou broke in to the top 32 in the world rankings for the first time at the end of the season.[17]

Performance and rankings timeline

Tournament	2011/ 12	2012/ 13	2013/ 14	2014/ 15	2015/ 16	2016/ 17	2017/ 18	2018/ 19	2019/ 20
Ranking[18][nb 1]	[nb 2]	[nb 2]	[nb 2]	[nb 3]	75	54	31	33	31
Ranking tournaments
Riga Masters[nb 4]	Not Held			MR		2R	1R	1R	2R
International Championship	NH	1R	WR	2R	3R	3R	LQ	2R	1R
China Championship	Tournament Not Held					NR	QF	LQ	2R
English Open	Tournament Not Held					2R	WD	4R	3R
World Open[nb 5]	WR	A	A	Not Held		2R	A	1R	QF
Northern Ireland Open	Tournament Not Held					3R	2R	4R	2R
UK Championship	A	A	A	1R	2R	4R	1R	3R	1R
Scottish Open	NH	MR	Tournament Not Held			1R	3R	3R	1R
European Masters	Tournament Not Held					LQ	SF	2R	F
German Masters	A	A	A	LQ	LQ	LQ	LQ	1R	LQ
World Grand Prix	Tournament Not Held			NR	DNQ	1R	DNQ	DNQ	1R
Welsh Open	A	A	A	1R	1R	QF	1R	2R	1R
Shoot-Out	Variant Format Event					1R	1R	1R	F
Players Championship[nb 6]	DNQ	DNQ	DNQ	DNQ	DNQ	DNQ	DNQ	DNQ	DNQ
Gibraltar Open	Tournament Not Held				MR	3R	1R	QF	2R
Tour Championship	Tournament Not Held							DNQ	DNQ
World Championship	A	A	A	LQ	LQ	1R	LQ	2R	A
Non-ranking tournaments
Shanghai Masters	Ranking Event							2R	A
Haining Open	Not Held			MR		1R	A	A	4R
Champion of Champions	Not Held		A	A	QF	A	A	A	A
Championship League	A	A	A	A	A	A	F	A	A
Variant format tournaments
Six-red World Championship	NH	A	A	A	A	A	A	1R	A
Former ranking tournaments
Wuxi Classic	NR	1R	WR	1R	Tournament Not Held
Australian Goldfields Open	A	A	A	LQ	LQ	Not Held
Shanghai Masters	A	WR	WR	LQ	LQ	LQ	2R	Non-Rank.
Paul Hunter Classic	Minor-Ranking Event					1R	A	1R	NR
Indian Open	Not Held		A	1R	NH	1R	1R	1R	NH
China Open	WR	WR	A	2R	1R	2R	3R	1R	NH
Former non-ranking tournaments
Macau Masters	Tournament Not Held							RR	NH

Performance Table Legend
LQ	lost in the qualifying draw	#R	lost in the early rounds of the tournament (WR = Wildcard round, RR = Round robin)	QF	lost in the quarter-finals
SF	lost in the semi-finals	F	lost in the final	W	won the tournament
DNQ	did not qualify for the tournament	A	did not participate in the tournament	WD	withdrew from the tournament

NH / Not Held				means an event was not held.
NR / Non-Ranking Event				means an event is/was no longer a ranking event.
R / Ranking Event				means an event is/was a ranking event.
MR / Minor-Ranking Event				means an event is/was a minor-ranking event.
VF / Variant Format Event				means an event is/was a variant format event.

1. It shows the ranking at the beginning of the season.
2. Zhou was an amateur.
3. New players on the Main Tour don't have a ranking.
4. The event was called the Riga Open (2014/2015–2015/2016)
5. The event was called the Haikou World Open (2011/2012–2013/2014)
6. The event was called the Players Tour Championship Grand Finals (2011/2012–2012/2013) and the Players Championship Grand Final (2013/2014–2015/2016)

Career finals

Ranking finals: 2 (2 runners-up)

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

Non-ranking finals: 1 (1 runner-up)

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

Pro-am finals: 1 (1 title)

Outcome	No.	Year	Championship	Opponent in the final	Score
Winner	1.	2018	Zibo International Open	Yan Bingtao	5–2[19]

Team finals: 4 (2 title, 2 runner-up)

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, 1 runner-up)

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 becomes world champion 2013". International Billiards and Snooker Federation. 8 December 2013. Archived from the original on 13 April 2014. Retrieved 8 December 2013.
2. "Zhou Yuelong 2014/2015". Snooker.org. Retrieved 23 April 2015.
3. "Three-Ton Rocket Crushes McGill". World Snooker. Archived from the original on April 27, 2015. Retrieved 23 April 2015.
4. "Asian Order of Merit 2014/2015". Snooker.org. Retrieved 23 April 2015.
5. "David Gilbert 5–2 Zhou Yuelong". Love Snooker. Archived from the original on 18 May 2015. Retrieved 23 April 2015.
6. "World Rankings After 2015 World Championship". World Snooker. Archived from the original on 7 May 2015. Retrieved 8 May 2015.
7. "China Win Snooker's World Cup". World Snooker. Archived from the original on June 25, 2015. Retrieved 25 June 2015.
8. "Higgins Stuns Murphy in Last 16". World Snooker. Archived from the original on April 20, 2016. Retrieved 2 May 2016.
9. "Wilson Wins Group Three". World Snooker. Archived from the original on March 4, 2016. Retrieved 2 May 2016.
10. "Zhou Yuelong 2015/2016". Snooker.org. Retrieved 3 April 2016.
11. "Carter Thrilled by Crucible Return". World Snooker. Archived from the original on June 4, 2016. Retrieved 2 May 2016.
12. "Historic Seedings After 2016 World Championship". Snooker.org. Retrieved 24 September 2016.
13. "Zhou Yuelong 2016/2017". Snooker.org. Retrieved 14 March 2017.
14. "Scott Donaldson storms into Welsh Open semi-finals". Edinburgh Evening News. Retrieved 14 March 2017.
15. "O'Brien Wins Record Two-Hour Frame". World Snooker. Retrieved 14 April 2017.
16. "Ding Battles Past Zhou". World Snooker. Retrieved 20 April 2017.
17. "Rankings 2016/2017". Snooker.org. Retrieved 7 May 2017.
18. "Ranking History". Snooker.org. Retrieved 6 February 2011.
19. "Zibo Joy for Zhou". WST. Retrieved 30 January 2020.

External links

• Zhou Yuelong at worldsnooker.com