Zhao Xintong is just one frame away from becoming the first player from China to win the World Championship after extending his lead to 17-8 over Mark Williams in the final. The 28-year-old, who is aiming to become the first amateur to triumph at the Crucible, led 11-6 overnight and was able to take three...
Zhao Xintong dominated the opening session of the World Championship final against an out-of-sorts Mark Williams to construct a commanding 7-1 lead. It was the perfect start for Zhao as he bids to become China’s first world champion and only the third player from outside the UK to win the title since 1997. Breaks of...
Zhao Xintong began this season suspended from snooker after a match-fixing scandal but is tipped to be the sport’s new “megastar” if he becomes the first Chinese player to win the World Championship. The 28-year-old, who lives just a 10-minute walk from the Crucible venue in Sheffield, is one match away from joining Terry Griffiths...
Zhao Xintong produced a scintillating display of potting to open up a 12-4 lead against seven-time champion Ronnie O’Sullivan in their World Championship semi-final. With the overnight score at 4-4, Zhao took all eight frames on Friday morning to become only the fourth player to win a session 8-0 against O’Sullivan at the Crucible. Englishman...
The encounter between Trump and Williams will pit the game’s two most decorated left-handed players against each other in a repeat of the 2022 semi-final. Trump edged that nerve-shredding contest 17-16 against the Welshman and expended little energy on Wednesday evening to dispatch Brecel. Unlike the afternoon session when 2019 winner Trump did well to...
Ken Doherty, the 1997 world champion, played against the ‘Class of 92’ throughout his career and felt this match was “the tie of the round”. “They’ve been at the top of the game since 1992, 33 years, and are still at the top and still producing,” the Irishman said. “As you get older it becomes...
Northern Ireland’s Mark Allen compiled an incredible 147 maximum break during his World Championship last-16 match against Chris Wakelin. Allen was trailing 10-2 at the time after losing all four previous frames in the morning session on Friday. He went straight to the practice table in the mid-session interval and then produced snooker’s moment of...
The World Championship had lived a nomadic existence before promoter Mike Watterson took it to the Crucible almost half a century ago, heeding the advice of his wife, Carole, who had watched a play in the theatre and felt it had just the right attributes to stage a snooker event. It is where the sport’s...
In Tuesday’s first session against two-time Crucible finalist Carter, neither player was at their best, with it seemingly finely balanced at 5-4 to O’Sullivan. But on Wednesday, ‘The Rocket’ was in sensational form, winning all five frames and not letting Carter score a point in four of them. O’Sullivan made breaks of 59, 117, 74,...
Reigning Masters champion Shaun Murphy also moved into the last 16 with a 10-4 victory in a high-quality match with Crucible debutant Daniel Wells. Murphy, 42, is aiming to win a second world title 20 years after his first success but could face world number one Judd Trump in the next round. Against Welsh qualifier...
The winner will face Lei Peifan, who knocked out defending champion Wilson on Saturday, in the last 16. Zhao, 28, is competing as an amateur at the World Championship but breezed through qualifying and is among the favourites to lift the trophy on 5 May. Zhao was one of 10 players banned in 2023 following...
Reigning champion Kyren Wilson holds a 6-3 lead over Lei Peifan in the first match of his world title defence at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield. The world number two twice missed blacks off the spot in the second frame as Crucible debutant Lei, 21, went 2-0 in front. The 33-year-old Englishman recovered to win...
Remarkably, O’Sullivan was installed as one of the bookmakers’ favourites to succeed at the Crucible, well before even confirming if he would participate. ‘The Rocket’ has not competed on the World Snooker Tour (WST) since he withdrew from his Championship League group and was so frustrated with his game he snapped his cue after losing...
Seven-time winner Ronnie O’Sullivan says he will overcome “stage fright” to take on Ali Carter in the first round of the World Snooker Championship. O’Sullivan, 49, who only confirmed his participation on Thursday, has not played competitively since snapping his cue at the Championship League in January. “Because it is the World Championship and the...
All-time greats such as Ronnie O’Sullivan, Mark Selby and Stephen Hendry have won multiple World Championships but failed to retain the title the year after their maiden victory. O’Sullivan won his first in 2001 and went on to win again in 2004, 2008, 2012, 2013, 2020 and 2022. Selby won back-to-back in 2016 and 2017...