5–4 and Rory McLeod 5–2. He was edged out in the final qualifying round 4–5 by Jamie Cope. Zhang's season came to an end when he lost 5–10 to Michael White in the third round of World Championship qualifying. 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. His best result in the minor-ranking European Tour events came at the Gdynia Open in Poland where he was beaten in the quarter-finals 4–2 by Fergal O'Brien. 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 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. The world number 98 was the lowest ranked player to have qualified and in his second appearance in the event he fell 8–1 down to Joe Perry in the opening session. Zhang won the first three frames of the next session which included a 132 break,