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
NicknameJumping Dragon, Chengdu Chalktime
Professional2014–
Highest ranking22 (February 2020)
Current ranking 22 (as of 16 March 2020)
Career winnings£368,695
Highest break147:
2019 Indian Open
Century breaks100
Best ranking finishRunner-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
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 Heldmeans an event was not held.
NR / Non-Ranking Eventmeans an event is/was no longer a ranking event.
R / Ranking Eventmeans an event is/was a ranking event.
MR / Minor-Ranking Eventmeans an event is/was a minor-ranking event.
VF / Variant Format Eventmeans 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. Retrieved 23 April 2015.
  6. "World Rankings After 2015 World Championship". World Snooker. Archived from the original on 8 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.
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