Zhang Anda sinks world champion Zhao Xintong on respotted black at China Open

Zhang Anda knocked out reigning world champion Zhao Xintong 6-5 in the first round of the China Open, winning the deciding frame on a respotted black — the sport's equivalent of sudden death, used when a frame ends with the scores level. The ball goes back on the table, and the first to pot it wins everything.

Zhang, 34 and ranked 19th in the world, had trailed 3-0 before winning five of the next six frames to lead 5-4. Zhao forced the decider, but Zhang held his nerve when it mattered most, potting the black to seal the biggest win of his career. (BBC Sport)

Zhao is China's first world snooker champion, a landmark that has made him the face of the sport's explosive growth in the country. (WST) He beat Zhang 10-6 in the all-Chinese final of February's World Grand Prix in Hong Kong for his first ranking title since his world crown. (BBC Sport) This time the result flipped, and on home soil at the £1.2 million China Open. (WST)

There was another major scalp on the same day. World number five John Higgins, a four-time world champion, went out 6-4 to 2015 world champion Stuart Bingham in the first round. (BBC Sport)

For Zhang, the reward is a last-16 match against England's Chris Wakelin. (BBC Sport)

What makes this result resonate is the way it was done. Three frames down against the world number three, on a big stage, with the crowd willing on their champion. Zhang chipped away frame by frame, and when the match came down to a single black ball, it was the 34-year-old journeyman's arm that stayed still. Snooker's drama is always quiet, but a respotted black is the loudest silence in the sport. One shot. No second chance.

For Zhao, it is an early exit from a tournament he would have targeted on home soil. For Zhang, it is the kind of win that changes the way a career is remembered.