Zhao Xintong a frame away from the final victory of the World Championship to Mark Williams
Zhao Xintong is on the verge of making the first Chinese player who won the Snooker World Championship after the qualifier attacked the lead 17-8 against Mark Williams in the final on Monday.
Lobster must win one more frame at the evening session to overcome his historical title in Best-e-35 show at Sheffield Crucible Theater.
The 28-year-old had built an 11-6 lead on Sunday and, with the title in the eye, he lit the screw Williams at Monday afternoon session.
Zhao won four of the first five frames to move 15-7 forward, raising the prospect of completing the final with a session to save.
The Chinese sensation, which had a session left unused on its semi-finals 17-7 World Championship seven times Ronnie O’Sullivanwas unable to reach that feat this time as Williams briefly stopped decay.
But Williams’ offer to become the world’s oldest Snooker champion by raising the trophy for the fourth time seems to end in failure.
The 50-year-old Welshman was not a match for Zhao’s dynamic making and relentless construction of the fracture while the Chinese star included the threshold of Snooker immortality.
Zhao is only the second finalist of the China World Championship, emulating Ding junhuiRunning at the 2016 show.
But while Ding was beaten by Mark Selby In the last nine years ago, Zhao has produced a wonderful screen to move within the touching distance to become the first champion of the Snooker World in Asia.
Zhao would be one of the most unexpected winners of the tournament.
He is playing as an amateur as he continues his return after a 20-month ban on involvement in a 2023 betting scandal.
Zhao, who won the 2021 UK Championship, accepted the accusations of being a party for another player who arranged two matches and betting in the matches himself.
Controversy led to 10 Chinese players to be punished, with life prohibitions for Liang Wenbo AND oak.
Zhao’s applied amateur status meant that he had to fight in four qualifying rounds just to reach the main draw of the World Championship in The Crucible, who is walking away from his home Sheffield.