Ronnie O'Sullivan has revealed the message he gave to Zhao Xintong after their World Snooker Championship semi-final battle. Zhao dominated the seven-time world champion and sent him crashing out of the tournament with a session to spare, but O'Sullivan still showed his class in defeat against a player who considers him 'his idol'.

After drawing the opening session 4-4, Zhao came out firing and won all eight frames against O'Sullivan on Friday afternoon. There were slim hopes of a fightback when the Rocket picked up the first two frames on Friday evening, but Zhao clicked into gear and punished the veteran's mistakes to seal a resounding 17-7 win.

O'Sullivan cut a frustrated figure during the latter stages of the match, laying his head on the table and mouthing the word 'embarrassing' in his seat. But the respect between the players was clear to see after Zhao potted the black in the 24th and final frame, with O'Sullivan offering the 28-year-old a smile and a warm embrace.

In his post-match press conference, the Rocket explained that he told Zhao to 'enjoy his moment'. And when talking to the BBC, O'Sullivan directed the conversation away from his own rocky performance and towards his excellent opponent.

"Zhao played well," he said. "He deserves his victory. He’s done brilliantly and he's deserved it all tournament, so credit to Zhao. I was here to play, that was it really, he played better than me.

"I’ve been awful for quite a while. Those [poor] performances are in there, they’ve been coming out quite regularly recently, so yeah. I’d just like to be alright but I felt like I never gave him a game so that’s a bit disappointing."

Having secured the chance to fight for his first world title, Zhao took the opportunity to thank O'Sullivan for the influence he has had on his career.

"I need to say thank you to Ronnie because he has helped me a lot before," he told the BBC. "He's my idol. I've just tried to enjoy the Crucible. It's my first time playing on the single table here, it's an amazing time for me and I just want to enjoy it because I don't know how many times I can try to enjoy it here.

"I've played here and sometimes the crowd is helpful for Ronnie and he deserves that. He is a legend here so I needed to control myself."