Come on, Zhao Xintong! To pierce the window paper from the runner-up of the World Snooker Championship to the champion is to fly

Qualifier Zhao Xintong leads three-time champion Mark Williams 11-6 after the first day of the 2025 World Snooker Championship final, and is expected to make history on the biggest stage of his career. In an attempt to become the first Chinese player to win the World Championship, the 28-year-old defeated Ronnie O'Sullivan in the semi-finals before leading Mark Williams 7-1 in the first stage of the final.

Zhao Xintong led Wales' Mark Williams 11-6 at the end of the second stage of the final of the 2025 Snooker World Championship on May 4, local time

Despite his vision problems, the 50-year-old Mark Williams is still trying his best to reach the final of this World Snooker Championship and seek to become the oldest world champion. In the previous semifinals, he defeated the world's number one player Trump 17-14 and became the oldest player to reach the World Snooker Championship. In the final, Mark Williams showed steely perseverance, and he felt better in the second stage after falling behind in the first stage, and he handed over a score of 5-4 in this stage, but still five games behind Zhao Xintong. British media said after the game on the 4th that Mark Williams, who dominated the second stage, ended a difficult day with a positive attitude. Even so, there is still a good chance that the final will go against him. No one has ever been able to overcome a gap of more than five games overnight to win the World Championship trophy.

Mark Williams is trying his best to reach the final of this World Snooker Championship in search of becoming the oldest world champion

Zhao Xintong's current status as an amateur is mainly due to a 20-month ban for his role in the match-fixing scandal, and for him, he now has a chance to become the third player to lift the World Snooker Championship trophy through qualification, after Terry Griffiths and Shaun Murphy. The final of the World Snooker Championship adopts a best-of-35 system of 35 rounds and is contested in four stages. The third stage of the final will start at 8 p.m. Beijing time on the 5th. According to the British media, in the face of 28-year-old Zhao Xintong's 7-1 lead in the first stage of the day, Mark Williams fought back hard in the second stage, which heralded an important boost before the final match day in Sheffield. Zhao Xintong, who has been in hand for 11 games, still needs 7 more rounds to become the new king of the World Championships, and the "Golden Left Hand" needs a major twist to win another 12 rounds.

In the marathon battle of the four stages of the World Championships, the young Zhao Xintong has more physical strength and combat effectiveness

If he can win the World Snooker Championship in this year, Zhao Xintong will become the first Chinese player to win the World Championship. Previously, he defeated seven-time champion England's Ronnie O'Sullivan 17-7 in the semifinals, becoming the second Chinese player to reach the final of the tournament after Ding Junhui in 2016 (who lost to Selby and won the World Championships runner-up).