Mark Williams names another young Chinese star ‘not far away’ from Zhao Xintong

Mark Williams would not be surprised to see more Chinese world champions in the years to come, seeing Wu Yize as ‘not far away’ from the new Crucible king Zhao Xintong.

Zhao beat Williams 18-12 in the final in Sheffield on Monday night, ending China’s wait for a world champion on the baize.

The 28-year-old is now expected to be a huge star in his home nation, and internationally, after beating two legends in Ronnie O’Sullivan and Williams on his way to the title.

Chinese dominance of snooker has been predicted for some time, with the huge boom which followed Ding Junhui’s win at the 2005 China Open producing a huge number of new players from the country.

There were a record number of Chinese players at the Crucible this year (10), with four of them being top 16 seeds, which was also the most ever.

The likes of Zhang Anda, Xiao Guodong and Lei Peifan have all won ranking titles recently, while Si Jiahui has been tipped for great things after impressive Crucible showings in his young career so far.

Williams was very impressed by Wu, who he beat 10-8 in the opening round in Sheffield, and reckons the 21-year-old is not far behind the world champion.

‘There are loads of them now. How many were in the World Championship? Ten,’ said Williams. ‘There are so many good players. They’re all unbelievable potters.

‘The lad I played in the first round, Wu Yize, he’s another one. Maybe not as good as Xintong, but he’s not far away. He pots some unbelievable balls. 

‘The balls they go for you think “crack on” because you want them to go for it. But Jesus Christ they get the majority of them. It’s frightening to watch!’

Williams underperformed for much of the final, but was thoroughly impressed by the excellent Zhao. Not just because of his stunning potting, but his temperament at the table.

‘He’s always had that even when he was 12 and I played him,’ the Welshman said of Zhao’s calm demeanour. ‘He said at the end he was nervous, but it didn’t show on his face. You wouldn’t know if he was 8-0 up or 8-0 down. He’s exactly the same all the time.

‘It’s a brilliant trait to have if you can play like you don’t care when you do care, pretty much like myself when I was younger. 

‘Even though he said he was under pressure he never looked it at any stage of the match.’

Williams hopes Zhao can be a new huge name for the sport, helping gain popularity in a similar way to Luke Littler did in darts.

‘I’m bored of hearing about the black-ball 1985 to be honest,’ he said. ‘I think everyone needs to get behind him. He could dominate or at least give [Judd] Trump and Kyren [Wilson] a run for their money. We’ve got a new superstar.

‘I think it was needed. You’ve seen the Luke Littler thing in darts, I think this is what snooker needed…someone like him coming through.

‘The way he plays is effortless. Long potting, cue power, brilliant.’