Higgins trails O'Connor 5-4 after opening session at World Championship

Halo World Championship

Venue: Crucible Theatre, Sheffield Dates: 19 April to 5 May

Coverage: Watch live on BBC TV, BBC iPlayer, BBC Sport website and app; live text coverage of selected matches; updates on BBC Radio 5 Live

Zhao Xintong wrapped up a comfortable 10-4 victory over Jak Jones to knock the 2024 runner-up out of the World Snooker Championship at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield.

Both of last year's finalists have exited the 2025 event in the first round, following defending champion Kyren Wilson's defeat by Lei Peifan on Saturday.

Zhao will meet fellow Chinese player Lei in his next match for a place in the quarter-finals.

Trailing 7-2 overnight, Jones started the second session with a break of exactly 100.

He reduced his deficit further when Zhao missed a simple brown during what appeared to be a routine clearance that would have restored the 28-year-old's five-frame advantage.

But Zhao won the next two with breaks of 70 and 55 to move 9-4 ahead and then compiled a break of 87 after returning from the mid-session interval to defeat the 16th seed from Wales.

Meanwhile, four-time champion John Higgins trails Joe O'Connor 5-4, with their first-round match being played to a conclusion from 19:00 BST.

English qualifier O'Connor got 12 reds and 12 blacks into a maximum attempt in frame seven, but landed awkwardly on the 13th red and had to settle for a break of 96 to take the lead in the match for the first time.

Later on Monday, Mark Allen will start 5-4 up against Fan Zhengyi (14:30), while 2016 runner-up Ding Junhui and two former semi-finalists - David Gilbert and Si Jiahui - will make their first appearances at the Crucible this year.

Zhao is competing as an amateur in his first World Championship appearance since 2022, having completed a 20-month suspension earlier this season.

The former UK Championship winner was one of 10 players banned following an investigation into match-fixing. He did not directly throw a match, but accepted charges of being a party to another player fixing two matches, and betting on matches himself.

Zhao has earned a place back among the professional ranks next season courtesy of his performances on the Q Tour and is considered one of the contenders to win in Sheffield, with Jones and former champion Neil Robertson among those expecting him to make a deep run.

"I'm so happy he said that and I will try my best," said Zhao when told of Robertson's comments.

On being one of 10 Chinese players in the main draw at the Crucible, he added: "It's very helpful for Chinese snooker and we as players are very happy about that.

"Hopefully in the future, we will have a Chinese world champion here and we are trying to do that."

Jones, 31, said: "Zhao looked really sharp, the qualifiers have done him good, and I've had two best-of-sevens in the past 10 weeks or so," said the 31-year-old.

"I kind of felt that out there, I didn't feel sharp at all. He put me under a lot of pressure, his scoring and long-potting was good and I think he'll be hard to stop."