Mark Williams became the oldest ever winner of a ranking event as he thrashed Shaun Murphy 10-3 in the final of the Xi’an Grand Prix in China.
An unexpectedly one-sided final saw Murphy, the form player having won 13 consecutive matches, completely outplayed as Williams made two centuries and eight more breaks over 50 in a superb display.
Back in 1982, Ray Reardon won the Professional Players Tournament 14 days after his 50th birthday to become the oldest ranking event champion, and this record stood for 43 years. Williams – a close friend of fellow Welshman Reardon who passed away last year – has now set a new record at the age of 50 years and 206 days.
The left-hander from Cwm becomes the first player to win a title in every decade from his teens through to his 50s. He now has 27 ranking titles, in sixth place on his own on the all-time list, one ahead of Neil Robertson and one behind Steve Davis.
Though he may not be as dedicated to practice as he once was, Williams remains a fierce competitor on the baize, renowned for his cool temperament. He was runner-up at the World Championship last season, beaten in the final by Zhao Xintong, but has regularly picked up silverware in recent years, notably at the Tour Championship and Champion of Champions in 2024. Now he has another huge title to his name and the £177,000 top prize moves him above Ronnie O’Sullivan to fourth place in the Johnstone’s Paint World Rankings.
Murphy had hoped to win back-to-back ranking titles for the first time in his career, having won the Unibet British Open 15 days ago, and he looked at the top of his game in beating the likes of Kyren Wilson, Ding Junhui and Gary Wilson to reach the final. But the 43-year-old Englishman was unable to convert chances into frame-winning breaks in the first session today and fell too far behind to mount a fight-back. He has now lost 15 of his 28 ranking finals, though the £76,000 runner-up prize lifts him from 12th in the world to ninth and comes with the bonus of a place in next month’s Riyadh Season Snooker Championship.
Williams led 7-1 after the first session having made breaks of 75, 73, 56, 68, 59, 55 and 127. He started the second session in the same fashion with a run of 122, before Murphy briefly rallied by taking frame ten and then adding the 11th with a break of 93 for 8-3.
But Williams took the next with a run of 65, and when Murphy missed a tricky red with the rest on 15 early in frame 13, his opponent responded with 61. Williams soon got back in with an extra 22 to cross the winning line.