Mark Williams and Zhao Xintong go head to head in the final of the Halo World Championship on Sunday and Monday, with first to 18 frames to lift the famous trophy and bank the top prize of £500,000.
They will play eight frames in the first session on Sunday from 1pm, then nine more from 7pm. On Monday they will play eight more from 1pm, with the balance from 7pm.
A veteran of 27 Crucible appearances, Williams has vastly more experience on this grand stage, and in fact the age gap of 22 years is the biggest ever in the final in Sheffield. Age 50 years and 44 days, he is the oldest Crucible finalist, and victory would make him the oldest World Champion, comfortably beating the record held by Ronnie O'Sullivan who was 46 in 2022. The Welshman could also become the oldest ever ranking event winner, surpassing the record set by Ray Reardon when he won the 1982 Professional Players Tournament just two weeks after his 50th birthday.
Having lost his first world final against Stephen Hendry in 1999, Williams has since won three in a row, beating Matthew Stevens in 2000, Ken Doherty in 2003 and John Higgins in 2018, all by a scoreline of 18-16. Victory would give him the biggest gap between first and most recent world titles, a record current held by O'Sullivan who took the silverware in 2001 and 2022. A fourth world crown would bring Williams level with Higgins and Mark Selby, behind only O'Sullivan and Stephen Hendry with seven apiece, and Steve Davis with six.
He is playing in his 43rd ranking event final and aiming for a 27th title. The Cwm cueman is hunting an eighth Triple Crown success, having won the UK Championship and the Masters two times apiece. Williams is sure to climb from sixth to third in the Johnstone's Paint World Rankings, even if he has to settle for the £200,000 runner-up prize.
To reach the final he has beaten Wu Yize 10-8, Hossein Vafaei 13-10, John Higgins 13-12 and Judd Trump 17-14, making eight centuries and 32 more breaks over 50.
Prior to this event, Zhao had only won a single match in two previous appearances at the Crucible, beating Jamie Clarke in 2022. The 28-year-old is the youngest finalist since Judd Trump in 2011, and is looking to become the youngest champion since Shaun Murphy in 2005.
The Chinese ace, born in the city of Xi'an in the Shaanxi province, is the only Asian player to reach the final other than Ding Junhui, who was runner-up to Mark Selby in 2016. He is already enjoying the deepest ever run by an amateur in this event, and had to win four qualifying matches just to make it to the Crucible - no champion has ever won more. He hopes to join Terry Griffiths (1979) and Murphy as the only players to come through the qualifying rounds and end up with the trophy.
Looking to become the 24th player to conquer the Crucible and the third consecutive first time winner after Luca Brecel and Kyren Wilson, Zhao is playing in his third ranking final, and won the previous two at the 2021 UK Championship and 2022 German Masters. At the Theatre of Dreams he has beaten Jak Jones 10-4, Lei Peifan 13-10, Chris Wakelin 13-5 and Ronnie O'Sullivan 17-7. In those four matches he has made four centuries and 33 more breaks over 50, and he also fired 12 tons in the qualifying rounds, bringing his total for the whole tournament to 16 which is just two off Ding's record of 18.
Currently unranked, the top prize would lift him to 11th in the Johnstone's Paint World Rankings, while if he loses he will finish the season 29th.
Williams has won four of their six previous meetings, including a 10-7 success in the qualifying rounds of this event in 2017. This is the first Crucible final between two left-handed players.
Enjoy the show!