Zhou Yuelong
 |
 Paul Hunter Classic 2016 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Born | 24 January 1998 Chengdu, China | |||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sport country |  China | |||||||||||||||||
| Nickname | The Jumping Dragon[1] | |||||||||||||||||
| Professional | 2014– | |||||||||||||||||
| Highest ranking | 26 (October 2017) | |||||||||||||||||
| Current ranking | 32 (as of 16 December 2024) | |||||||||||||||||
| Century breaks | 219 (as of 3 January 2025) | |||||||||||||||||
| Best ranking finish | Semi-final (2017 European Masters) | |||||||||||||||||
Medal record
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Zhou Yuelong (Chinese: 周跃龙, Pinyin: Zhōu Yuèlóng; born 1998 in Chengdu) is a professional snooker player from the People's Republic of China.
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 2014/2015 season.[3]
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.[4] 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.[5] 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.[4] 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.[6] 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.[7] He was the world number 75 after his debut season on tour.[8]
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.[9]
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.[10] 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.[11] 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.[12] 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.[13] He entered the top 64 in the world rankings for the first time at the end of the season, as he was 54th.[14]
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.[15] 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.[16] 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.[17] Instead he faced Ding Junhui and was defeated 10–5.[18] Zhou broke in to the top 32 in the world rankings for the first time at the end of the season.[19]
Performance and rankings timeline
| Tournament | 2011/ 12 |
2012/ 13 |
2013/ 14 |
2014/ 15 |
2015/ 16 |
2016/ 17 |
2017/ 18 | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ranking[20][nb 1] | [nb 2] | [nb 2] | [nb 2] | [nb 3] | 75 | 54 | 32 | ||||||||
| Ranking tournaments | |||||||||||||||
| Riga Masters[nb 4] | Tournament Not Held | Minor-Rank. | 2R | 1R | |||||||||||
| China Championship | Tournament Not Held | NR | QF | ||||||||||||
| Paul Hunter Classic | Minor-Ranking Event | 1R | A | ||||||||||||
| Indian Open | Not Held | A | 1R | NH | 1R | 1R | |||||||||
| World Open[nb 5] | WR | A | A | Not Held | 2R | A | |||||||||
| European Masters | Tournament Not Held | LQ | SF | ||||||||||||
| English Open | Tournament Not Held | 2R | WD | ||||||||||||
| International Championship | NH | 1R | WR | 2R | 3R | 3R | LQ | ||||||||
| Shanghai Masters | A | WR | WR | LQ | LQ | LQ | 2R | ||||||||
| Northern Ireland Open | Tournament Not Held | 3R | |||||||||||||
| UK Championship | A | A | A | 1R | 2R | 4R | |||||||||
| Scottish Open | NH | MR | Tournament Not Held | 1R | |||||||||||
| German Masters | A | A | A | LQ | LQ | LQ | |||||||||
| Shoot-Out | Variant Format Event | 1R | |||||||||||||
| World Grand Prix | Tournament Not Held | NR | DNQ | 1R | |||||||||||
| Welsh Open | A | A | A | 1R | 1R | QF | |||||||||
| Gibraltar Open | Tournament Not Held | MR | 3R | ||||||||||||
| Players Championship[nb 6] | A | DNQ | DNQ | DNQ | DNQ | DNQ | |||||||||
| China Open | WR | WR | A | 2R | 1R | 2R | |||||||||
| World Championship | A | A | A | LQ | LQ | 1R | |||||||||
| Non-ranking tournaments | |||||||||||||||
| Champion of Champions | Not Held | A | A | QF | A | A | |||||||||
| Former ranking tournaments | |||||||||||||||
| Wuxi Classic | NR | 1R | WR | 1R | Not Held | ||||||||||
| Australian Goldfields Open | A | A | A | LQ | LQ | Not Held | |||||||||
| 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. | |||
- ^ It shows the ranking at the beginning of the season.
- ^ a b c Zhou was an amateur.
- ^ New players on the Main Tour don't have a ranking.
- ^ The event was called the Riga Open (2014/2015–2015/2016)
- ^ The event was called the Haikou World Open (2011/2012–2013/2014)
- ^ 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
Non-ranking finals: 1 (1 runner-up)
| Outcome | No. | Year | Championship | Opponent in the final | Score |
| Runner-up | 1. | 2016 | China Professional Championship | Zhang Anda
|
1–5 |
Team event finals: 1 (1 titles)
| Outcome | No. | Year | Championship | Country | Opponent in the final | Score |
| Winner | 1. | 2015 | World Cup | China B (with Yan Bingtao) |
 Scotland(John Higgins and Stephen Maguire) |
4–1 |
Amateur event finals: 1 (1 title)
| Outcome | No. | Year | Championship | Opponent in the final | Score |
| Winner | 1 | 2013 | IBSF World Snooker Championship | Zhao Xintong
|
8–4 |
References
- ^ "Zhou Yuelong". World Snooker Tour. Archived from the original on 16 February 2024. Retrieved 13 February 2024.
- ^ a b "Career-total Statistics for Zhou Yuelong – Professional". CueTracker Snooker Results & Statistics Database. Retrieved 3 August 2016.
- ^ "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.
- ^ a b "Zhou Yuelong 2014/2015". Snooker.org. Retrieved 23 April 2015.
- ^ "Three-Ton Rocket Crushes McGill". World Snooker. Archived from the original on April 27, 2015. Retrieved 23 April 2015.
{{cite web}}: Unknown parameter|deadurl=ignored (|url-status=suggested) (help) - ^ "Asian Order of Merit 2014/2015". Snooker.org. Retrieved 23 April 2015.
- ^ "David Gilbert 5–2 Zhou Yuelong". Love Snooker. Retrieved 23 April 2015.
{{cite web}}: Unknown parameter|deadurl=ignored (|url-status=suggested) (help) - ^ "World Rankings After 2015 World Championship". World Snooker. Archived from the original on 8 May 2015. Retrieved 8 May 2015.
{{cite web}}:|archive-date=/|archive-url=timestamp mismatch; 7 May 2015 suggested (help) - ^ a b "China Win Snooker's World Cup". World Snooker. Archived from the original on June 25, 2015. Retrieved 25 June 2015.
{{cite web}}: Unknown parameter|deadurl=ignored (|url-status=suggested) (help) - ^ "Higgins Stuns Murphy in Last 16". World Snooker. Archived from the original on April 20, 2016. Retrieved 2 May 2016.
{{cite web}}: Unknown parameter|deadurl=ignored (|url-status=suggested) (help) - ^ "Wilson Wins Group Three". World Snooker. Archived from the original on March 4, 2016. Retrieved 2 May 2016.
{{cite web}}: Unknown parameter|deadurl=ignored (|url-status=suggested) (help) - ^ "Zhou Yuelong 2015/2016". Snooker.org. Retrieved 3 April 2016.
- ^ "Carter Thrilled by Crucible Return". World Snooker. Archived from the original on June 4, 2016. Retrieved 2 May 2016.
{{cite web}}: Unknown parameter|deadurl=ignored (|url-status=suggested) (help) - ^ "Historic Seedings After 2016 World Championship". Snooker.org. Retrieved 24 September 2016.
- ^ "Zhou Yuelong 2016/2017". Snooker.org. Retrieved 14 March 2017.
- ^ "Scott Donaldson storms into Welsh Open semi-finals". Edinburgh Evening News. Retrieved 14 March 2017.
{{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in:|publisher=(help) - ^ "O'Brien Wins Record Two-Hour Frame". World Snooker. Retrieved 14 April 2017.
- ^ "Ding Battles Past Zhou". World Snooker. Retrieved 20 April 2017.
- ^ "Rankings 2016/2017". Snooker.org. Retrieved 7 May 2017.
- ^ "Ranking History". Snooker.org. Retrieved 6 February 2011.
External links
- "Official player profile of Zhou Yuelong". wst.tv. World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association. "Tour Players" section.
- Template:CueTracker player