Zhao Xintong gesture seconds after Ronnie O'Sullivan win speaks volumes

made a touching gesture to immediately after thrashing the Rocket in the . The Chinese star will but his first thought after was to embrace his opponent, a sign of his respect for the snooker icon.

O'Sullivan is Zhao's idol and he was gracious in defeat. Immediately after the 28-year-old potted the black to secure his triumph, the Rocket rose from his feet. They both approached each other before hugging and exchanging some warm words. Zhao then raised his hands above the seven-time world champion's head and clapped, encouraging the fans to applaud the beaten semi-finalist. Seeming genuinely touched by the gesture, O'Sullivan smiled and patted Zhao on the side.

"I can't believe that," Zhao told the BBC afterwards. "I need to say thank you to Ronnie because he helped me a lot before. To be honest, I don't want to win here [against O'Sullivan] in the Crucible, because... Hopefully he can win his eighth title and Triple crown here. He's my idol.

"I try to enjoy the Crucible here. That's my first time playing with the single table here. It's an amazing time for me, I just want to enjoy it because I don't know how many times I will enjoy it here. But I'm doing well."

After both players had completed their media duties, Zhao was pictured hugging O'Sullivan in the latter's dressing room. His admiration for the 49-year-old is clear to see.

Asked about the result, O'Sullivan told the BBC: "Don't know, to be honest with you. Zhao played good, deserved his victory. He's done brilliant all tournament. All credit to Zhao."

Zhao's victory came with a session to spare and on a deserved day off, he will watch the final session of the other semi-final between Judd Trump and Mark Williams. He will face the winner of that match, which is currently finely poised at 8-8, in the final.

Having whitewashed O'Sullivan in Friday's earlier session, Zhao was largely comfortable in seeing through the final frames against the struggling star. He led 12-4 heading into the final session and despite O'Sullivan winning the first two frames, Zhao went on to triumph in five of the next six.

O'Sullivan had issues with his new cue and had changes made to the tip and ferrule at 4-4. He gave a blunt response to questions over those problems, responding: "I'm just here to play. That was it really. He played better than me."