Anda Zhang

Bio

The 2023/24 season proved to be a breakthrough campaign for Zhang Anda as he won his first ranking event title at the 2023 International Championship and moved into the world’s top 16 for the first time in his career.

Zhang has been a regular on the World Snooker Tour since 2009 and had never gone beyond the quarter-final of a ranking event prior to a season that saw him remarkably reach a trio of finals at the 2023 English Open, 2023 International Championship and 2024 Players Championship.

His breakthrough came at the English Open in Brentwood where he notably defeated Ronnie O’Sullivan to reach the quarter-finals before overcoming fellow countrymen Zhou Yuelong and Liu Hongyu to reach a maiden final, where he lost 9-7 to Judd Trump after leading 7-3 at one stage.

The disappointment at the manner of that final defeat did not seem to affect Zhang for long, however, as just one month later he lifted the International Championship title on home soil.

Victories over Alexander Ursenbacher, Mark Williams, Liam Pullen Lyu Haotian, Ding Junhui and O’Sullivan saw Zhang reach the final in Tianjin, China.

In the third frame of the final, Zhang compiled the first maximum break of his career to move 2-1 ahead and eventually defeated Tom Ford 10-6 to complete a milestone victory.

A third final of the season followed at the 2024 Players Championship, this time losing out 10-8 to Mark Allen in the final, but the outstanding campaign saw Zhang rise to a career high of 11th in the world rankings in March 2024.

He has played in the final stages of the World Championship on four occasions to date, including during his rookie season in 2010 when he led seven-time champion Stephen Hendry 9-7 before losing 10-9, and in 2024 he was a seeded player for the first time but lost 10-4 to eventual finalist Jak Jones.

Career Honours

WST Ranking Event Titles (1)

• 2023/24: International Championship