Zhang Anda

Zhang Anda (; born 25 December 1991) is a Chinese professional snooker player, who made his debut on the Main Tour for the 2009–10 season. He qualified by winning the ACBS Asian Under-21 Championship. In November 2023 he won his first world ranking title by winning the International Championship.

Standing at 5 ft. 3 in. (160 cm) tall, he is nicknamed "Mighty Mouse". Zhang lives in Sheffield, England, during the snooker season and practises at the Victoria Snooker Academy.

Career

2009/2010 season The 2009–10 season was Zhang's first professional season on the tour. His first match was a 2–5 defeat to Craig Steadman in the first qualifying round of the Shanghai Masters. His first wins came over Ben Woollaston (5–3) and Jin Long (5–2) during qualifying for the Grand Prix. He was then eliminated by Welshman Dominic Dale 0–5. This meant that he would be only the fourth Chinese player to play at The Crucible and the lowest ranked player (number 71) to qualify for tournament. He is also one of only a few players to make it to The Crucible in their debut season. This result denied Walden a top 16 place for the following season. Zhang was drawn against seven-time World Snooker champion Stephen Hendry in the first round of the event. Zhang was 0–4 down in the match but rallied to trail only 4–5 after the first session. Hendry increased his lead to 7–5 before Zhang won four frames in a row to be on the cusp of a famous win. He wasted a chance to take the match in the next frame and went on to lose 9–10. Zhang ended the season ranked world number 71.

2010/2011 season Zhang began the 2010–11 season well by defeating Jak Jones 5–4, Paul Davies 5–1 and Stuart Pettman 5–3 to reach the final qualifying round of the Shanghai Masters. He faced Matthew Stevens and was beaten 2–5. However, he could only win more match in qualifying for the remaining six ranking events, concluding with a 6–10 loss to Andrew Pagett in the first round of World Championship qualifying. He therefore entered Q School in an attempt to win back his place and was one match away from doing so in the first event, but lost 1–4 to David Grace. He couldn't qualify from the remaining two events and did not have a place on tour next season. Zhang was beaten by the same scoreline by Stephen Maguire in the next round to finish a lowly 115th on the Order of Merit. Zhang lost in the final of the ACBS Asian Snooker Championship 2–5 to Hossein Vafaei, but as Vafaei had already qualified for the main snooker tour, Zhang received a place for the 2012–13 and 2013–14 seasons.

2012/2013 season Zhang lost in the first round of qualifying for the opening three ranking events of the season. He played in all three of the new minor-ranking Asian Players Tour Championship events, reaching two quarter-finals where he lost to Michael White 3–4 and Li Hang 2–4 respectively. His first win in a ranking event match this season was a 6–5 success against Li Yan in International Championship qualifying, but he lost 3–6 to Alfie Burden in the next round. He finished the year ranked world number 77.

2013/2014 season Zhang won three consecutive matches 5–4 to qualify for the second ranking event of the season, the Australian Goldfields Open. He beat world number 20 Andrew Higginson 5–1 in the first round to reach the last 16 of a ranking event for the first time in his career, where he was defeated 5–1 by world number two Mark Selby. Zhang also qualified for the Indian Open and beat Alan McManus 4–1 in the first round, before losing 4–3 to Michael White. Zhang was relegated from the main tour at the end of the season as he was placed 77th in the world rankings, outside of the top 64 who remain. In his final game of the first 2014 Q School event he made a match-winning break of 54 in the deciding frame against Jamie Clarke to edge it 4–3, having been 3–0 up. The result earned Zhang a fresh two-year main tour card for the 2014–15 and 2015–16 seasons.

2014/2015 season Zhang played a curtailed schedule of events in the first half of the 2014–15 season. He met Ali Carter, who was playing in his first ranking match since having treatment for lung cancer, in the first round of the UK Championship and came back from 5–3 down to beat him 6–5. Zhang lost 6–5 to Rory McLeod in the second round. He was whitewashed 4–0 by Gary Wilson in the first round of the Welsh Open and narrowly lost 5–4 to Peter Ebdon in the first round of the China Open. Zhang defeated Anthony Hamilton 10–3, Mark Joyce 10–9 and won the last three frames against Liang Wenbo to beat him 10–9 and qualify for the World Championship. Zhang won the first three frames of the next session which included a 132 break, but Perry went on to complete a 10–4 win.

2015/2016 season Zhang defeated Liang Wenbo 4–3 to advance to the quarter-finals of the Haining Open, but lost 4–3 to Ding Junhui. He won his first professional event the General Cup Qualifying Event. He beat Cao Yupeng 5–4 in the final. This was an invitation event with the winner taking the eighth and final place in the General Cup. He would go on to reach the semi-finals of the event, where he was beaten 6–3 by Marco Fu. Zhang overcame Robert Milkins and Dechawat Poomjaeng both 5–4 to qualify for the German Masters and he whitewashed Alfie Burden 5–0 in the opening round to reach the last 16 of a ranking event for the second time in his career. His run was ended with a 5–1 defeat to Judd Trump. Zhang qualified for the World Championship for the second year in a row with wins over Bratislav Krustev, Mark Davis and Zhou Yuelong. Zhang was just outside the top 64 in the world rankings at 65, but earned a new two-year tour card by finishing joint fifth on the Asian Tour Order of Merit.

2016/2017 season Zhang comfortably beat Dominic Dale 5–1 to play in the World Open where he defeated Peter Ebdon 5–1 and Judd Trump 5–2 to reach the last 16 of a ranking event for the third time, but he was thrashed 5–0 by David Gilbert. He got to the same stage of the UK Championship by overcoming Tian Pengfei 6–2, Anthony McGill 6–3 and Mitchell Mann 6–3. Zhang was unable to make it to his first quarter-final as he lost 6–1 to Mark Selby. He qualified for the China Open, but was ousted 5–1 by Mark Williams in the opening round.

2019/2020 season Zhang remained outside the Top 64 for the entire season with a relatively poor run of form and was unable to replicate prior successes.

2020/2021 season Owing to his previous poor season, he fell outside of the Top 64 and lost his Tour card. He did not enter the Q School event as a result of the continuing impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic and was therefore relegated from the professional tour. However, Zhang performed well in the 2021 CBSA China Tour and was awarded a tour card for the 2021–22 and 2022–23 World Snooker Tour seasons as a result.

2021/2022 season

2022/2023 season

2023/2024 season Zhang reached the final of the 2023 English Open, however came runner up with a 7–9 defeat to Judd Trump. One month later he reached the final of the 2023 International Championship. After beating O'Sullivan in the semi-final, he won his first world ranking title by beating Tom Ford 10–6. Anda hit a 147 maximum break in the match. At the 2024 World Championship, Zhang was defeated in the first round by Jak Jones 4–10.

2025/2026 season In February 2026, Zhang reached the final of the World Grand Prix but suffered a 6–10 defeat to Zhao Xintong.

Personal life Zhang Anda was married in May 2019, but the couple postponed their honeymoon so that Zhang could play in the CBSA Chinese National Championship in Xi'an. Zhang won the tournament, beating Zhao Jianbo 5–3 in the final.

Performance and rankings timeline Performance Table LegendLQ lost in the qualifying draw#R lost in the early rounds of the tournament(WR = Wildcard round, RR = Round robin)QF lost in the quarter-finalsSF lost in the semi-finalsF lost in the finalW won the tournamentDNQ did not qualify for the tournamentA did not participate in the tournamentWD withdrew from the tournament NH / Not Held means an event was not held.NR / Non-Ranking Event means an event is/was no longer a ranking event.R / Ranking Event means an event is/was a ranking event.MR / Minor-Ranking Event means an event is/was a minor-ranking event.

Career finals Ranking finals: 4 (1 title) Outcome No. Year Championship Opponent in the final ScoreRunner-up 1. 2023 English Open Judd Trump 7–9 Winner 1. 2023 International Championship Tom Ford 10–6Runner-up 2. 2024 Players Championship Mark Allen 8–10Runner-up 3.2026World Grand Prix Zhao Xintong6–10

Non-ranking finals: 3 (1 title) Outcome No. Year Championship Opponent in the final ScoreRunner-up 1. 2010 The China Classic Tian Pengfei 3–5 Winner 1. 2015 General Cup Qualifying Event Cao Yupeng 5–4 Runner-up 2.2025 Helsinki International Cup Mark Allen 3–6

Team finals: 1 OutcomeNo.YearChampionshipTeam/partnerOpponent(s) in the finalScore Runner-up 1. 2018 Macau Masters Joe Perry Marco Fu Mark Williams Barry Hawkins Ryan Day Zhao Xintong Zhou Yuelong 1–5

Pro-am finals: 2 (2 titles) Outcome No. Year Championship Opponent in the final Score Winner 1. 2016 Fuzhou Open Zhou Yuelong 5–1 Winner 2. 2019 Xi'an Open Zhao Jianbo 5–3

Amateur finals: 3 (1 title) Outcome No. Year Championship Opponent in the final ScoreRunner-up 1. 2007 IBSF World Under-21 Championship Michael Georgiou 6–11 Winner 1. 2009 ACBS Asian Under-21 Championship Noppon Saengkham 5–1Runner-up 2. 2012 ACBS Asian Under-21 Championship Hossein Vafaei 2–6