Mark Williams forgets snooker cue and sings Tom Jones karaoke before winning opening match of the season

The 50-year-old starts his 34th consecutive season on snooker’s top tier as the world number three - the second-highest ranked player who will be engaged for this three-day qualifying stint at the Mattioli Arena in Leicester.

Only last month, Williams reached his fifth Crucible final - becoming the World Championship’s oldest-ever finalist in the process - but was denied a fourth world title by qualifier Zhao Xintong who created history by becoming the first player from China to win the sport’s blue riband event.

Since then, Williams has had very little downtime in the short off-season having travelled to various corners of the globe for exhibitions.

The Welshman won a Shoot Out-style event in Helsinki, Finland when he defeated Shaun Murphy in the final, and he constructed not one, but two maximum 147 breaks during a show in Bermuda, becoming the first cueist to have ever completed snooker perfection on the small North American archipelago islands.

A few weeks later and Williams was back to his regular day job of competing on the World Snooker Tour, and trying to reach round two of the £700,000 Wuhan Open ranking event.

However, his journey to the Mattioli got off to a comical start as he forgot to bring his cue with him into the car, but thankfully he remembered before he set off.

A video was shared on social media of Williams getting his cue, and then singing along to Tom Jones as he got back into his car.

A few hours later in the evening session and Williams was on the baize to face Thailand’s Nasa who was playing his debut match as a professional having graduated from the Asia-Oceania Q School in Bangkok last month.

Despite no breaks of 50 or above, Williams took control of the contest and went into the mid-session interval 4-0 up. On resumption, the three-time World Champion crafted a break of 67 as he registered a clean sweep.

Higgins books Wuhan berth with opening match victory

Fellow ‘Class of 92’ member John Higgins can also make travel plans for the Far East later this summer as he too progressed to the final rounds of this year’s Wuhan Open.

World number four Higgins - who like Williams is now aged 50 - enjoyed a fantastic second half to last season, ending a four-year wait for a ranking title when he won the World Open; the most recent ranking event held in mainland China.

Higgins then followed that up a few weeks later with victory at the Tour Championship in Manchester.

Playing in Sunday afternoon’s session, Higgins began his new term with a 5-2 win over China’s Huang Jiahao.

Breaks of 59 and 62 helped four-time World Champion Higgins establish a 2-0 lead before he extended his profit to three.

Huang got on the board whilst taking frames either side of the mid-session interval (54 break, frame five), but Higgins secured the following two frames (71 break, frame seven) to progress.

In the last 64, Higgins is set to meet Dylan Emery, who defeated Long Zehaung 5-3 during the same session in Leicester.

For the draw and all the results from the 2025 Wuhan Open, please visit our tournament information centre here.