Zhao Xintong wins his first title since Crucible glory at the Riyadh Season Championship

Victory in Saudi Arabia represents Zhao's first title since claiming the sport's ultimate prize at the Crucible back in early May. The 28-year-old from China collects his first invitational crown on the top flight and pockets a payday of £250,000.

Zhao was competing in this non-ranking event for the first time having not been a part of the first two editions held last year. It was only several months ago that he was playing in snooker clubs on the secondary tier Q Tour in a bid to regain his professional status after the expiration of his ban for his involvement in the match-fixing scandal from 2022/23.

As the reigning world champion, Zhao was the number two seed for this competition and entered the fray in the last eight where he put on an impressive display to dispatch Shaun Murphy, 4-2.

Returning for Finals Day, Zhao was involved in another quality affair as he ousted world number one Judd Trump 4-3 on the colours having earlier crafted a run of 138 in frame four - an effort that would stand as the event's highest break.

The result was payback for Zhao who lost to Trump 6-2 at the same stage of last week’s Champion of Champions.

Emerging from the other side of the draw was world number three Robertson, who like Zhao was making his Riyadh Season Championship debut this year.

The Australian dropped just a frame in reaching the showpiece fixture, racking up breaks of 100 and 133 in a 4-0 whitewash of Kyren Wilson in the quarter-finals and then dethroning title holder Mark Allen 4-1 in the final four. In the final frame of his semi-final tie, Robertson counter-cleared with a 73 after Allen broke down on 72 whilst chasing an unprecedented 167 'super-maximum' which carried a one million dollar jackpot bonus.

Only their second-ever meeting on the professional tour, Zhao deposited the opening frame of the final before Robertson levelled.

It looked like Robertson - who was aiming for a Saudi Arabian title double having won the big-money ranking event held in Jeddah a few months ago - was on course to edge ahead after six reds and blacks, but Zhao clawed his way back into contention and re-took the lead before an effort of 131 sent him to the mid-session interval 3-1 up.

On resumption, it was back-to-back centuries for the world number ten as a 134 put him on the hill. Robertson keep his hopes alive with a 91 as he reduced the gap, but Zhao got the job done in frame seven with the aid of a 57.

Zhao maintains his 100% winning record in professional finals after title decider successes at the 2021 UK Championship, 2022 German Masters, and 2025 World Championship.

It had been a largely disappointing season for the world champion having not won more than two matches in any of his first seven tournament outings, but he made the semi-finals in consecutive weeks at the International Championship and Champion of Champions heading into Riyadh where he eliminated three former world champions in as many rounds.

Next up for Zhao is the 2025 UK Championship at the Barbican Centre in York.

Visit our tournament information centre here for details on the 2025 Riyadh Season Snooker Championship including the draw, results, schedule and how to watch.