'I'm snooker's own Luke Littler - Ronnie O'Sullivan says I'm as good as Stephen Hendry'

has been labelled snooker's very own by two of the sport's biggest icons. even believes the Chinese star is the closest thing to the seven-time world champion .

Zhao breezed past last year's Crucible finalist Jak Jones in his first round at the . A 10-4 triumph proved that the 28-year-old is well among the contenders for the title. Many top stars believe Zhao is the sport's next big thing, and have even compared his impact at a relatively young age to Luke Littler's performances in darts.

Jimmy White told the BBC: "We've got a new kid on the block - Zhao Xintong. Listen he's unbelievable. He's like Luke Littler in the darts. He can go through it like a knife through butter. I think he's like fourth in that batting already and he's an amateur. That's how good he is."

O'Sullivan is also a big fan of Zhao, who burst onto the scene by winning the 2021 UK Championship. Not only does The Rocket agree with White's assessment, he also insists he has not seen a player clear the table like Zhao does since his old rival Hendry.

"Did you see Xintong play his first match? He was out for two years," O'Sullivan said. "Unbelievable talent. Unbelievable. To me, he's the nearest thing to Stephen Hendry. His scoring is unbelievable, his positional play, his touch. He's got power. He's got everything, this kid.

"For me, he's the nearest thing I've seen since Hendry cause a lot of players will go for a long one and want to get the white safe. He just rolls them in for the black. You miss, these guys clear up. Years ago they might've only made 40 or 50. He just goes, bang, 100, bang, 100.

"I think within three years he'll be No. 1, world champion. He's like our Luke Littler. He's our potential Luke Littler and he's a cool-looking guy and he's got something about him."

In September last year, Zhao returned from a two-year ban following a World Snooker Tour match-fixing investigation into 10 Chinese players.

Speaking in November after returning from his suspension, he said: "Two years ago I made a little mistake, now I've come back. I know how important snooker is to me and now I just want to come back to the snooker table.

"I knew I would come back so I need to keep confident in myself. I believe that if I play well then I can beat anybody. I'm just going to try my best."