Zhou Yuelong has claimed his second huge scalp of the week at the UK Championship, beating John Higgins 6-3 to set up a quarter-final with Ronnie O’Sullivan on Friday.
The 25-year-old picked up a fantastic 6-2 win over Neil Robertson in the last 32 in York and has followed that up by sending another former champion home.
Higgins was a long way from his best, with back-to-back breaks of 72 and 76 the highlights, but otherwise it was a disappointing performance from the Wizard.
Zhou wasn’t at the blistering best he hit against Robertson, but he didn’t need to be, knocking in breaks of 65, 86, 52 and 63 to get into the last eight.
Asked by Eurosport how he felt after the match, Zhou said: ‘Good. Today was same as the last game, I feel relaxed. John Higgins is my idol, my favourite player so I really enjoyed playing John Higgins in the UK Championship.
‘Little bit nervous but I was still focussed on the table. I feel good from the English Open, quarter-final I lost to Anda, but I still felt good.’
O’Sullivan came through his last 16 contest with a 6-5 win over Rob Milkins and Zhou continues his brutal run in York against the Rocket, but he does not sound too concerned.
‘Not bad,’ he said on how he felt about facing the world number one. ‘Same, he’s a great player, so same feeling. Quarter-finals to play Ronnie, it’s special at the UK Championship.’
Higgins had looked pretty good in his opening win against Joe O’Connor and said he was happy with his game, but it was a very different Wizard of Wishaw on Thursday.
‘Amazing what a couple of days can do. Very poor, very poor,’ he told the BBC. ‘I think at the end I was bringing Zhou down to my level I was that bad.
‘You play good some days and other days you’re like a 50 handicap, it doesn’t fill you with confidence.’
Zhou has not had much success in his four previous meetings with the Rocket, losing all four and only winning two frames in the process. He lost 6-0 to O’Sullivan in the last 16 in York last year.
O’Sullivan was has not been at his best so far in York, though, with Zhou seemingly in the better form of the two men, so he will be confident that he can push the world number one a bit closer this time around.
MORE : Ronnie O’Sullivan survives serious Rob Milkins scare at UK Championship
MORE : Judd Trump warns rivals it will ‘take something special’ to stop him at UK Championship
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