World Grand Prix Final Preview: Zhang faces Zhao for the title in Hong Kong

It has already been an historic week for Chinese snooker, with six players from the country making the last eight, and a clean sweep of representation in the semi-finals. Both were records for professional ranking events.

In this the 12th edition of the World Grand Prix, only one player from China had ever before featured in the final - that was Ding Junhui when he was runner-up in 2018. Tomorrow in Hong Kong, both the top two steps will be occupied by the nation, with the winner pocketing £180,000.

Reigning world champion Zhao is into his first ranking event final whilst wearing the Crucible crown, although he did win the Riyadh Season Championship invitational back in November.

Before his run this week, the 28-year-old had only once been past the last 16 of a ranked tournament this term - that also came in the Far East at the International Championship in Nanjing. This latest sequence has also qualified him for the Players Championship in Telford later this month - the second Players Series leg of the season featuring the top 16 ranked cueists from the one-year list.

At the Kai Tak, Zhao defeated John Higgins 5-3 in the opening round before coming back from 4-1 down to usurp reigning UK Champion Mark Selby 5-4 in the last 16.

In the quarter-finals, Zhao was nearly on the receiving end of such a recovery as he watched opponent Chris Wakelin rally from 4-1 down to force a decider before squeezing through.

The world number eight then wrapped up a 6-3 semi-final success over compatriot Xiao Guodong with a break of 121.

Playing competitively in Hong Kong for the first time this week, Zhao is aiming for his fourth career ranking title overall, but his first in Asia.

Number 29 seed Zhang began his campaign with a 5-2 win over Mark Williams before seeing off Barry Hawkins 5-3 in round two. It was the second time within several days that he had denied Hawkins in a ranking event; he produced a maximum 147 break en route to doing so at last week’s German Masters.

He then eliminated fellow countrymen in back-to-back rounds starting with a 5-2 victory against Wu Yize before coming through an absolute classic with Xiao Guodong, sinking blue to black in the deciding frame to win dramatically by the barest of margins.

Like his final opponent Zhao, Zhang’s efforts this week have pushed him into the Players Championship party, regardless of Sunday’s outcome.

This will be Zhang’s fourth ranking event final appearance; his previous three all came during his breakthrough season - having first turned pro in 2009 - in 2023/24.

The 34-year-old fell out of the top 16 earlier this season, as the prize money he earned for winning the 2023 International Championship came off his two-year rolling total, so this week’s performance has been a timely boost. Should he lift the trophy on Sunday, he would go back into the sport’s elite bracket.

Zhang has played himself into some very decent form over the past few months. For the third consecutive year he reached the quarter-finals of the UK Championship, and he made the last 16 of both the Scottish Open and German Masters. The current world number 23 also won a group at the Championship League Invitational.

Should Zhang triumph in Hong Kong, it would mean the last 16 ranking events have all been won by different players. Glory for Zhao ends that streak.

In terms of their career head-to-head record, these two have met only three times before in professional competition, with two of those coming in recent weeks.

Zhang won an Australian Open qualifier held in England back in 2015 - when his opponent was still an amateur - and got the better of Zhao in the second round of the UK Championship last December with a 6-2 win.

At the behind-closed-doors Championship League Invitational a few weeks ago, Zhao won a ‘regular’ round robin tie, 3-1.

The 2026 World Grand Prix final is the best of 19 frames and will be contested across two sessions with start times of 05:00GMT and 11:00GMT.

To view the full draw, results, schedule, and other information from the 2026 World Grand Prix, visit here.