China’s Zhang Anda is through to his second final of the season after a sensational 9-6 defeat of seven-time World Champion Ronnie O’Sullivan in the semi-finals of the International Championship in Tianjin.

Zhang first turned professional back in 2009, but it has taken until this season for him to showcase his full potential. He defeated the likes of O’Sullivan and Anthony McGill on the way to making his maiden ranking final at the English Open. He had looked set for the title when he led Judd Trump 7-3, but lost six on the bounce to succumb to a 9-7 loss.

Today’s result for Zhang means that his compatriot Ding Junhui, who won the Six Red World Championship, will now miss next week’s Champion of Champions. Instead, the winner of Sunday’s final between Zhang and Tom Ford will secure the spot.

Tomorrow’s clash will be contested over the best of 19-frames with a top prize of £175,000 on the line, with both players vying for their maiden ranking title. If Zhang wins he will also knock Ding out of the top 16 in the world rankings and take his automatic place in the final stages of the MrQ UK Championship.

Defeat means world number one O’Sullivan will have to wait to secure the 40th ranking title of his career. However, his showing this week ensures he will remain on top of the world rankings for the time being, having seen off challenges from Judd Trump, Mark Allen and Luca Brecel. The Rocket now turns his attention to the Champion of Champions, where he will face the winner of tomorrow’s final in the opening round.

The afternoon session ended with the players level, after Zhang surrendered a two-frame. He had an opportunity to go 5-2 up, but missed the final pink and O’Sullivan pounced to claim two on the bounce and make it 4-4.

When they got underway this evening it was O’Sullivan who continued to push on and breaks of 52 and 54 on his way to securing a 6-4 advantage. However, from that moment on Zhang took control of proceedings.

A break of 83 from Zhang reduced his arrears to 6-5 and he then claimed a 35-minute 12th to restore parity at 6-6. He then cranked up the heat on his illustrious opponent with a fine contribution of 114 to lead 7-6. Zhang showed no signs of faltering as the finish line came into sight and took two tight frames after that to get over the line for a momentous 9-6 victory.

“I feel that the first session of the game was better than the second. When I was 6-4 behind, I tried not to think about the result and slowly adjusted my mentality and did a good job,” said world number 37 Zhang.

“When you are behind, you try to slowly get yourself back into the game. If you do that, you rarely think about winning or losing, you will not be afraid of mistakes, and you will be less nervous.

“I personally like to play the long matches, because my performance in these matches is quite good. It makes it easier for me to feel involved, and it will slowly get me into the rhythm of the game.”

O’Sullivan said: “He played well and deserved to win. He was the better player on the day, so fair play to him. I expected him to be like that as I’ve played him a few times, he was solid. He is a fantastic player, I don’t know where he has been for the last ten years.”