Zhao becomes China's first world champion in Sheffield

Zhao Xintong was crowned China's first world snooker champion after withstanding a stirring comeback from Mark Williams to complete an 18-12 win at the Crucible.

Resuming the final session one frame short of victory, Zhao was forced to wait for his history-making moment as the Welsh veteran reeled off four in a row to stretch the match beyond a mid-session interval.

Williams, at 50 the oldest finalist in Crucible history, had his chances to further reduce the deficit before Zhao recovered his poise to rocket in match-clinching break of 87, before celebrating by raising the Chinese flag.

Zhao picked up the famous trophy and a cheque for £500,000, becoming just the third qualifier to triumph at the Crucible, following in the footsteps of Terry Griffiths and Shaun Murphy.

Some will also dubiously refer to him as the first 'amateur' to claim the title. However, the loss of his tour card as a consequence of his 20-month ban for his involvement in a betting scandal in 2023 does not an amateur make, even if the player is labelled as such by the governing body. Zhao continues to earn his living from the game and his prize money from Sheffield will lift him to 11th in the world rankings when his card is restored next season.

Zhao had admitted being party to an effort to fix or contrive to fix two matches involving his compatriot Yan Bingtao, the former Masters winner, and despite frequently expressing contrition for his involvement, there may be some who believe his triumph is a tainted one.

His win over Williams was Zhao’s ninth of the tournament, a record for any champion, and his 47th in 49 matches since he embarked on his comeback with a 3-0 whitewash of Lithuanian Vilius Schulte-Ebbert in the inauspicious surroundings of a Q Tour event in Sofia in September.

Two hundred and twenty-seven days later, Zhao went one better than Ding Junhui, who kickstarted the Chinese snooker revolution when he swept to his first of three UK titles in 2005 but had never quite managed to emulate that achievement at the Crucible.

Zhao has long been touted as Ding’s heir apparent, with Ronnie O’Sullivan and Jimmy White singling him out as a future star soon after he was handed his first tour card in 2016, and three-time winner Williams added to the praise shortly after the bruising afternoon session, describing his opponent as "probably the best potter I’ve ever seen".

Williams had defied his own low expectations by forcing his way into his fifth Crucible final and eclipsing the previous record set by his fellow Welshman Ray Reardon who was 49 when he lost the 1982 final to Alex Higgins.

Apparently blighted by eye problems and booked in for lens replacement surgery this summer – which he may now postpone – Williams nevertheless dredged up every inch of his vast experience to edge past fellow veteran John Higgins in a quarter-final classic, then recovered from a 5-1 deficit to sink world number one Judd Trump in the last four.

Zhao’s lightning start to their seventh career meeting – Williams got the better of a first-round qualifying clash in 2017 when he had temporarily slid out of the world’s top 64 – effectively ended any hopes the Welshman had of clawing his way back to wrest a fourth world crown.

A 7-1 deficit instead raised the prospect of Zhao, who had hammered O’Sullivan with a session to spare in the last four, repeating the feat and becoming the first man to lift the title in an afternoon since Stephen Hendry obliterated Jimmy White in 1993.

Those fears were not eased after a second session that left Williams five frames adrift overnight at 11-6 and it was not until a gutsy break of 67 in the 23rd frame that the Welshman guaranteed the fans – who had forked out for tickets for the Championship’s final session – would at least get to witness the historic moment.

When Zhao ran aground on a break of 30 in the opener, Williams proceeded to give them more than their money’s worth, earning a standing ovation at the interval after reeling off four frames in a row, including his sole century of the final, to reduce the deficit to 17-12.

Williams had two chances to further reduce the deficit, before Zhao held his nerve to wrap up a victory that will make the sport even more popular in his homeland.

"It's like a dream – I can’t believe it," the new champion said afterwards. "There was big pressure and I was a bit nervous because I knew I couldn’t miss.

"I knew he could come back so quickly so I had to concentrate and be very careful.

"I had nearly two years not playing in tour competitions and that’s why I said my first target was to get through qualifying to the Crucible.

"I can’t believe I went on to be champion, but I am back now and I want to keep going."