Zhao leads but Williams fights back in compelling Crucible final

After three-time champion Mark Williams held the lead in the World Championship final at the Crucible Theatre on day one, Zhao Xintong maintains an 11-6 overnight lead.

The 28-year-old led 7-1 in the opening session, but Williams, who is the oldest Crucible finalist, took 5 of the 9 frames on offer on Sunday, including a tense 17th frame.

No player has previously overturned a deficit of more than four frames before the second day of a World final, which gives the Welshman, 50, a glimmer of hope when play resumes on Monday.

Williams will regret what might have happened despite his brief recovery, even though Zhao is confident that he will become the first Chinese player to win the title and the only other player from outside the UK to do so since 1997.

When Williams’ opponent cleared the table after creating half-century breaks, but the frame-deciding ball went missing, Williams also lost crucially in the sixth and sixteenth frames.

Zhao was unable to maintain his dominance that he had already displayed in the opening period, but he did manage to add four more half-centuries to the breaks of 77, 100, 57, 104, and 83.

Zhao, who won the 2021 UK Championship before receiving a 20-month ban for his part in a sport-changing match-fixing scandal, is hoping to become the only qualifiers to receive the biggest prize since South Yorkshire’s move to South in 1977.

The £500, 000 top prize would also make him the first amateur to win in Sheffield, and his return to the main professional tour next season would place him 11th in the world.

The 22-year age difference between two Crucible finalists and Zhao, who was only three years old when Williams won his first World Championship in 2000, is the biggest ever age difference.

After defeating Judd Trump on Saturday, Williams joked that he had been playing Zhao in an exhibition when he was just a boy.

He struggled to replicate the performance he had against the world number one, who occasionally seemed to be missing a pot.

Instead, he spent Sunday evening on a salvage operation after a stumbling opening session put him in danger against a man who had won his first world championship with consummate ease.

Williams will hope not to end their semi-finals on Saturday evenings, despite Zhao having 24 hours off after beating O’Sullivan with a session remaining.

In the first session of the 2023 and 2024 finals, both Jak Jones (7-1) and Mark Selby (7-2) suffered injuries, failing to win the matchup against Luca Brecel and Kyren Wilson, who would later become champions.