Xiao Guodong

Xiao appeared as a wildcard in the 2007 China Open, and beat the then world number 50 Tom Ford 5–3, before losing 0–5 to Matthew Stevens.

In his first ranking tournament, the 2007 Grand Prix he finished 4th in his qualifying group by winning 3 out his 7 matches. In the 2007 Northern Ireland Trophy he beat Leo Fernandez 5-1 and Jimmy White 5–0, before he lost to David Gilbert 2–5.

He lost his first match in the 2007 UK Championship to Kurt Maflin and to the same player in the 2008 China Open qualifiers too. In the Welsh Open he lost to fellow Chinese player Liu Song 2–5.

A victory over Munraj Pal in the 2008 World Championship qualifiers set up a match with David Roe, which he lost 5–10.

Xiao won the Paul Hunter English Open in 2008.

In the 2009 China Open, he beat Michael Holt 5–3 in the wild-card round, progressing to the first round proper where he beat fellow Chinese player Ding Junhui 5–3. He gave three-time world champion Ronnie O'Sullivan a tough game in the next round as O'Sullivan began the match with two successive centuries before Xiao rallied to trail just 4–3, but lost the next frame to bow out of the tournament.

On 10 July 2009, on the World Snooker website, Xiao was voted in the Top 5 players to watch out for in the 2009–10 season.

Xiao had a good season in the Players Tour Championship series of tournaments in the 2011–12 season. He reached the quarter-finals of Event 1 and Event 6 and went one better in Event 2, where he was knocked out in the last 4 against compatriot Ding Junhui. The results ensured he reached the 2012 Finals by finishing eighteenth in the Order of Merit. He played in the Finals against the advice of doctors as he had broken a bone in his hand three weeks earlier whilst sleeping on it awkwardly, but despite this beat Dominic Dale 4–2 in the first round of the event. Xiao then pulled off the result of his career to date by defeating recent UK champion, Judd Trump 4–2 to advance to his first ever ranking event quarter-final, where he was beaten by Andrew Higginson 1–4.

Xiao could not qualify for any of the other ranking events during the season, coming closest in the UK Championship, where he lost to Tom Ford in the final qualifying round. He finished the season ranked world number 41, meaning he had risen 23 places during the year.

Xiao qualified for the Australian Goldfields Open and the German Masters during the 2012–13 season, losing in the first round in both to Barry Hawkins and Kurt Maflin respectively. He took advantage of the new Asian Players Tour Championship events by taking part in all three of them. He had his best result in the second event by defeating the likes of Marco Fu and Barry Hawkins to reach the semi-finals, where he lost 2–4 to Stephen Lee. His performances helped him to eighth on the Asian PTC Order of Merit, high enough to qualify for the Finals. There, Xiao reached the quarter-finals for the second successive year with wins over Graeme Dott and Alfie Burden, before losing 1–4 to Neil Robertson. Xiao's season came to an end when he lost 4–10 to Jimmy White in the third round of World Championship Qualifying, but he finished the year ranked world number 37, at the time his highest position.

In his opening match of the season, Xiao defeated Andrew Norman 5–3 to qualify for the 2013 Wuxi Classic in China where he beat Peter Ebdon 5–3 in the first round and Li Hang 5–4 in the second. He then faced John Higgins in the last 16 and was whitewashed 0–5. Xiao could also not pick up a frame in the first round of the Australian Goldfields Open, as he lost 0–5 to Joe Perry. He won three matches to qualify for the Shanghai Masters and once there defeated Yuan Siyun 5–0 in the wildcard round. Xiao took advantage of a poor performance by Stephen Maguire in the first round to beat him 5–2 and then saw off Peter Lines 5–3. He continued his run to make the semi-finals of a ranking event for the first time as he came back from 4–2 down to beat Mark Davis 5–4 citing afterwards his work with Terry Griffiths as being a key factor in his success. In the semis he played Michael Holt who was also making his ranking event semi-final debut and from 3–3 Xiao made a break of 111, added the next frame and then closed the match out 6–3 with a 127 break. He played Ding Junhui in a first all-Chinese ranking final and was beaten 10–6, but the runner-up's cheque of £35,500 is the highest of his career to date and he also broke into the world's top 32 for the first time.

His second quarter-final appearance of the season came at the German Masters but he lost 5–2 to Ryan Day. Xiao's rise up the world rankings meant he only needed to win one match to reach the World Championship and he did so in emphatic fashion by thrashing Li Yan 10–1. In Xiao's debut in the event he rallied from 4–1 down against Ali Carter to end the first session 5–4 behind, but went on to lose 10–8. Xiao's rise up the rankings continued as he ended the campaign as the world number 23, an increase of 14 spots from the start of the season.

At the Australian Goldfields Open, Xiao recorded wins over Liam Highfield, Peter Ebdon and Matthew Stevens to reach the semi-finals of a ranking event for the second time, where Judd Trump defeated him 6–3. He beat Eden Sharav and Noppon Saengkham at the International Championship, but lost 6–4 to Robert Milkins in the third round and was knocked out by the same scoreline in the second round of the UK Championship against Matthew Selt. After edging Highfield 5–4 in the first round of the German Masters, Xiao was thrashed 5–0 by Neil Robertson. Xiao won five matches at the Shoot-Out, the tournament where every match is decided by one ten-minute frame, to reach the final. Xiao lost the lead with just six seconds remaining against Michael White. He progressed through to the final qualifying round of the World Championship and his match against Jimmy Robertson went into a deciding frame which Robertson won on the final pink.

After having a high enough ranking to gain automatic entry into the Australian Goldfields Open (where he lost 5–3 to Ian Burns in the first round) Xiao's ranking steadily declined during the season as he could not get beyond the last 48 of any ranking event. He dropped 30 places to end it 51st in the world.

At the Riga Masters, Xiao beat Gareth Allen 4–0 and Jamie Jones and David Gilbert both 4–2 to reach his first ranking event quarter-final in two years. He lost 4–2 to Darren Morgan. Xiao defeated Michael Holt 4–1, Noppon Saengkham 4–0 and Neil Robertson 4–3 at the English Open, before being eliminated 4–3 by Chris Wakelin in the fourth round. During his second round match with Shaun Murphy at the Scottish Open, Xiao made a 132 break, the 100th century of his career and went on to win 4–1. He lost by a reversal of this scoreline to Mark Davis in the subsequent round. This was the first year that the Shoot-Out, the tournament where every match is settled by a 10-minute frame played under a shot clock, had its status upgraded to a ranking event. In his quarter-final match with David Gilbert, Xiao ran out of time when potting a yellow but the foul was not picked up by the referee. He won the match and reached the final of the event for the second time and lost by 67–19 points to Anthony McGill. Three comfortable victories saw Xiao qualify for the World Championship and he beat Ryan Day 10–4 in round one, before losing 13–6 to Mark Selby.

Xiao reached three quarter-finals, but had victories over John Higgins, Mark Allen and Mark Selby (twice). He qualified for the World Championship, but lost to Ding Junhui 10–3. He finished the season ranked 39.

Xiao missed two tournaments in August due to pneumonia. His best results came in the World Open (quarter final) and the World Grand Prix (semi-final). In the World Championship Qualifiers, he was unhappy when his opponent, Michael Judge played on for 20 minutes needing 8 snookers in the 8th frame. The session was duly suspended at 4-4, and Judge ultimately won 10–9. Xiao finished the season ranked 25.

From the start of the 2019-20 season, Xiao failed to reach the business end of most tournaments he entered, with only a single semi-final reached in the 2020 Gibraltar Open, which had been severely impacted due to the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. He did reach the quarter-final of the behind-closed-doors staging of the 2021 Gibraltar Open, but continued struggling for results in most events he was entering.

His results started to improve from the 2023 German Masters, in which he reached back-to-back quarter-finals of both that event and the following 2023 World Grand Prix. Although starting the 2023–24 snooker season as the world number 41, he began struggling for results again, with only one semi-final appearance at the 2023 British Open to show for his efforts, but the lack of events that had been played at this point meant he climbed to end the season as the world number 34.

The 2024–25 snooker season would prove to be significant in Xiao's career. At the inaugural Saudi Arabia Snooker Masters held near the start of the season, he reached the quarter-finals but lost to Shaun Murphy. In the 2024 Wuhan Open, he reached the main stages by beating Haydon Pinhey in qualifying 5–1, then proceeded to defeat Andrew Pagett, the then-reigning World Champion Kyren Wilson, Barry Hawkins, Shaun Murphy -- in a performance which included three back-to-back century breaks and restricting Murphy to just 21 points in the first four frames -- and Long Zehuang to reach the final of a ranking event for the first time since the 2017 Snooker Shoot Out. There, he met Si Jiahui who was making his second appearance in a ranking event final and who had made his maiden maximum break in the previous round. Although Si scored four century breaks in the final, the experience of Xiao over the seasons -- despite rarely reaching the final of tournaments -- prevailed as he defeated his compatriot 10–7 to win his first ever ranking title on the World Snooker Tour.

While the form that took Xiao to the title dried up over the next four tournaments with three first-round exits, his form returned in another event played in China: the 2024 International Championship, in which he defeated two former World Championship semi-finalists -- Ricky Walden and Mark Allen -- to reach the semi-finals, where he lost in a decider to Chris Wakelin.

His title victory in Wuhan permitted him to be invited to the 2024 Champion of Champions, an event which Xiao had never previously competed in. In the Group Semi-Finals, he faced four-time tournament winner Ronnie O'Sullivan: in the first three frames, Xiao failed to score a point as his opponent raced to a 3–0 lead. Despite losing the first three frames, Xiao hit back immediately by restricting O'Sullivan to just 7 points with three one-visit contributions which included a 130 century break, forcing a decider in which he won 4–3. In the Group Final that evening, he defeated another former World Champion in Mark Selby in his second consecutive decider 6–5, taking the decider with a contribution of 58. In the semi-finals, he proceeded to defeat Mark Allen 6–3, despite no century breaks being produced by either player in the match, to reach his first ever Champion of Champions final, doing so on his debut. His opponent in the final was three-time World Champion Mark Williams, but Xiao was unable to convert his chances and lost 10–6.

Xiao played in the 2024 UK Championship as a seeded player for the first time, but lost in the first round, which denied him an opportunity to make a debut at the 2025 Masters in January. Despite that, he reached back-to-back semi-finals at the 2024 Scottish Open, losing 6–4 to runner-up Wu Yize, and the 2025 German Masters, losing to the eventual champion Kyren Wilson.

He competed in the first Players Series event of the season, reaching the quarter-finals of the 2025 World Grand Prix -- which was being played in Hong Kong for the first time -- but lost to newly-crowned Scottish Open champion Lei Peifan. His success in the season meant he competed in the 2025 Players Championship and the 2025 Tour Championship: in both cases, he lost in the quarter-finals to John Higgins.

For the first time, Xiao was a Top 16 seed for the 2025 World Snooker Championship, having previously reached the Crucible Theatre three times as a qualifier. He won his first round match 10–4 by defeating Matthew Selt, reaching the second round for only the second time in his career. For the third time in just two months, Xiao faced John Higgins: despite lacking significant experience in competing in a best-of-25 frames match, he took Higgins all the way to a decider, but lost 13–12, ending the season as the world number 13 and securing his entry to the invitational 2025 Shanghai Masters in the new season as a seeded player.

After reaching the quarter-finals of the Shanghai Masters, Xiao opted not to compete at the Saudi Arabia Masters in order to take part in the 2025 World Games, where he won gold in the men's snooker event. He entered the Wuhan Open as defending champion and retained his title with a 10–9 victory over Gary Wilson, claiming his second ranking title and rising to a career high of 8th in the world rankings.