Zhao takes upper hand in World Championship final

Whoever wins the 2025 World Snooker Championship will be making history. We'll have either the oldest world champion or the first Chinese world champion and both would be huge for the sport.

- LUKE BAKER

If day one of the best-of-35 final at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield is anything to go by, then come tomorrow morning, there will be one hell of a party on the streets of Xi'an hometown of Zhao Xintong - while Ronnie O'Sullivan's record of lifting the title as a 47-year-old back in 2022 will remain unbeaten.

That's because Zhao put on a snooker clinic to lead Mark Williams 11-6 overnight, as he ruthlessly raced into a 7-1 lead during yesterday afternoon's opening session before Williams fought back somewhat in the evening to win the session 5-4 but still trail by a healthy margin.

In the history of world finals, no one has ever overturned a deficit of five frames or more overnight to triumph at the end of day two but if anyone can, perhaps it's the Welsh Potting Machine.

With Williams heading into his fifth world final at the age of € 50, having won three of his previous four and having impressively downed world No 1 Judd Trump 17-14 in a captivating semi-final, there was a pre-match feeling that he might be too wily for an opponent who hadn't been beyond the second round in two previous Crucible appearances.

Zhao's talent has never been in question and neither, in truth, has his comfort on the big stage as he proved when winning the UK Championship back in 2021 for his first triple crown title, before adding the German Masters a few months later.