Zhao Xintong is bidding to join an exclusive snooker club this week at the Welsh Open, as he closes on winning his third ranking title on the spin.
The world champion got off to a fairly slow start to this season after his Crucible triumph in May, but has found form in some style.
The 28-year-old won the World Grand Prix earlier this month in Hong Kong, beating the likes of John Higgins and Mark Selby on his way to the final where he downed Zhang Anda.
The Cyclone then blew into Telford for the Players Championship where he kept up his winning run and landed the title there too.
Zhao beat Elliot Slessor, Shaun Murphy and Mark Allen before getting the better of Higgins again in the showpiece, cementing his position as the best player on the planet right now.
That victory over Higgins also took Zhao to five ranking titles from his first five ranking finals. The only players to have done that before are Steve Davis, Mark Williams and Neil Robertson. Davis has the record as he won his first seven.
There are very few days off for the world champ and he travelled from Telford to Llandudno for this week’s Welsh Open, lifting the Players Championship trophy on Sunday and starting his campaign in Wales on Tuesday.
Since then he has downed Fan Zhengyi and Stan Moody to book his spot in the last 16, where he will play former world champion Stuart Bingham on Thursday night.
The Chinese star has taken his winning run to 11 matches and he is now just four more victories from winning a third straight ranking title, which is a very rare feat.
Judd Trump was the last player to win three ranking events on the spin, doing so in 2023 when he landed the English Open, Wuhan Open and Northern Ireland Open.
Four other players in snooker history have managed it: Ray Reardon, Steve Davis, Stephen Hendry and Ding Junhui.
Trump’s run in 2023 was over far more matches as they were bigger-field events, with his winning run ending at 22 games.
Higgins described Zhao as a ‘genius’ after he reeled off breaks of 104, 126 and 92 to claim a 10-7 victory in Sunday’s final.
Concerningly for his rivals, the world champion does not even feel like he was in great form in Telford.
‘I just think I’m the lucky one because I play not really, really well but I got the trophy,’ he told BBC Wales. ‘I just think I’m the lucky one.’
Zhao did have to battle back from behind in his wins over Slessor and Allen at the Players Championship and says his confidence in his ability to do so has improved.
‘I think I’ve grown up,’ he said. ‘Before if I play Mark [Williams], John, Ronnie [O’Sullivan],when I’m 1-3 down or 2-4 down I think game over.
‘But now I think maybe I can come back and I can do much better. I have confidence now.’
Zhao is on a very busy schedule as he is winning so many matches, with the World Open in Yushan and the Tour Championship in Manchester to come before his defence of his world title starts in April.
‘I just want to enjoy the snooker table,’ he said. ‘I just want to enjoy every tournament. Next week if I’ve got another tournament I’ll be there.’