Zhao's form and rampant display against Wakelin suggest he could well become the first amateur to taste success at the Crucible.
While Wakelin has already defeated 2010 winner Neil Robertson and former world number one Mark Allen, the Englishman found himself totally outplayed in their first two sessions on Tuesday.
While Wakelin, 33, made a break of 93 to take the opening frame in the morning, Zhao then reeled off six in a row.
And the pattern continued when play resumed in the evening, with the 28-year-old racing towards a first semi-final appearance.
Zhao, a former UK Championship winner, was one of 10 players from China to receive a ban in a match-fixing scandal.
He did not directly throw a match, but accepted charges of being a party to another player fixing two matches and betting on matches himself. Zhao - who served a 20-month ban for those offences - is the only of the 10 players sanctioned in the scandal to have returned to action.
As a result of the ban, he lost his place on the World Snooker Tour, although he has already ensured he will be back on the tour full-time next season.
For this tournament, he is officially classed as an amateur and this is his seventh match of the competition, after he had to fight through four qualifying rounds to reach the main draw.