Ronnie O’Sullivan has been dumped out of the World Championship having been thumped by the excellent Zhao Xintong. The Chinese star, who won with a session to spare, has reached his first Crucible final with a 17-7 victory and will learn tomorrow whether he will play Judd Trump or Mark Williams.

Zhao whitewashed O’Sullivan during the morning session in Sheffield. That fine display of cueing put the 28-year-old into a huge 12-4 lead heading into this evening’s action. He then calmly secured the five frames he needed to see off the seven-time world champion, despite a slightly better display from the snooker icon. Zhao's nerveless performance will make him a strong contender to win a tournament in which he remarkably started as a qualifier. Victory over Trump or Williams would make him the first world champion to hail from Asia.

O’Sullivan struggled after a 4-4 scoreline from the first session left the match finely poised. Despite being level, the Rocket is said to have been frustrated with his performance.

That saw him sensationally visit a cue doctor in Sheffield on Thursday evening. O’Sullivan is said to have paid £150 for a new tip and ferrule after the first frame, having branded his cue “awful” ahead of the semi-final.

Before the tournament, the 49-year-old revealed that he had been using a new cue with a titanium ferrule for the first time. It comes after he snapped his cue in February and skipped every event until turning up in Sheffield.

But the latest service appeared to cause more harm than good. Remarkably, Zhao won all eight frames during the second session before rounding off his victory with a solid enough performance, aside from a couple of errors in the first two frames.

O'Sullivan was much better during Friday's evening session and took the first two frames. However, Zhao won five of the next six to book his place in next Monday's final. Victory was sealed in the 24th frame of the best-of-33 semi-final.

Zhao's performance was so dominant that he will now enjoy a day off. The final sessions of the semi-finals were due to take place tomorrow, but he will not be needed having overcome O'Sullivan with a session to spare.