The age of Chinese domination of world snooker may be dawning after Zhao Xintong hammered compatriot Yan Bingtao 9-0 in the final of the German Masters in Berlin. The 24-year-old Zhao is starting to fulfil his promise after adding the German title to his UK Championship win, showing no mercy to his friend and the man who was himself tipped as a future world champion after his UK triumph last season. Former top 10 player Foulds praised the two players on Twitter, saying the pair may be paving a way for a new era in world snooker. “A superb occasion,” Foulds wrote. “Yan Bingtao v Zhao Xintong in the #GermanMasters. Two brilliant young Chinese players, one possesses the tough matchplay of Higgins/Selby. The other is a mixture of O’Sullivan/Trump. Snooker is gradually moving into a new phase.” Hear from the BildBet German Masters champion! #GermanMasters #BVEuroSeries pic.twitter.com/BMyhOSdDob — World Snooker Tour (@WeAreWST) January 30, 2022 Zhao’s prowess first came to light when he reached the semi-finals of the 2018 China Championship. After a lean few years, he has returned to the spotlight this season with two victories. He claimed his biggest title to date by winning the UK Championship at the end of last year and, after failing to perform at the World Grand Prix, Masters and Shoot Out, he hit back to lift the Brandon Parker Trophy at the Tempodrom in Berlin. Two month two trophies, thanks for all your support pic.twitter.com/DiUbO8xDWq — Zhao xintong (@WwwXintongzhao) January 30, 2022 “It was a surprise for me tonight. I couldn’t believe the scoreline was so one-sided. Bingtao is a good player and we know each other so well. I didn’t believe I could win 9-0, but I did it,” Zhao, who moves to eighth in the world ranking said on the World Snooker website. “This is a nice venue and there are nice people here. Berlin is a good city and I really enjoyed it. “When I was 4-0 up at the mid-session this afternoon, I went out and talked to Bingtao. I could see he was under pressure. I said to him you don’t need to do this, you can play like it is a show. We are very friendly and I wanted it to be a show for the fans. A superb occasion at the @tempodrom today. Yan Bingtao v Zhao Xintong in the #GermanMasters final. Two brilliant young Chinese players, one possesses the tough matchplay of Higgins/Selby. The other is a mixture of O’Sullivan/Trump. Snooker is gradually moving into a new phase. — Neal Foulds (@fouldsy147) January 30, 2022 “Tomorrow is Chinese New Year and tonight we will go back to the UK. This tournament is very different for us because of the Chinese New Year and tomorrow we will maybe have a few drinks.” In whitewashing Yan, Zhao became the third player to win a two-session ranking event without conceding a frame, putting his name alongside snooker greats Steve Davis and Neil Robertson. He is also the second Chinese player to win the German Masters after mainland pioneer Ding Junhui took the crown in 2014. Yan had beaten a host of top players to reach the final, swatting aside world champion Mark Selby, Ryan Day and Mark Allen. However, he seemed to have run out of steam in the final against Zhao, not helped by a raft of errors and sloppy play. Both players will hoping to make history for China at the World Championship in Sheffield starting in April.