Mark Williams offers advice to fellow players in wake of his record-breaking Xi'an title glory

Having gone into the final as the underdog against an opponent who was on a 13-match winning streak and going for back-to-back trophies on the World Snooker Tour, Williams produced the goods and ripped up the form book.

The three-time world champion registered runs of 75, 73, 56, 68, 59, 55 and 127 as he finished the opening session in strong command at 7-1 up. A few hours later - despite Murphy winning two frames in-a-row for the first time that day - Williams got the job done with the aid of breaks of 122, 65 and 61.

The Welshman collects his 27th career ranking event crown, putting him into sixth on the all-time list of most decorated ranking champions, just one behind fifth-placed Steve Davis.

Aged 50 years and 206 days, Williams becomes the oldest-ever winner of a ranking event title in professional snooker history, eclipsing fellow countryman Ray Reardon who was 50 years and 14 days when he won the 1982 Professional Players Tournament after defeating Jimmy White 10-5 in the final.

'The Welsh Potting Machine' also becomes the first player to win professional titles in five different decades of their life - his teens, 20s, 30s, 40s, and now 50s.

In terms of ranking event accolades, the span between Williams' first (1996 Welsh Open) and last titles is over 29 years, although fellow 'Class of 92' graduates Ronnie O'Sullivan and John Higgins currently have wider spells.

The top prize sum of £177,000 that Williams collects also gets added to his ranking tally, moving him up to fourth in the latest global standings ahead of O'Sullivan, with all three from the Class of 92 still inside the world's top six.

Williams provides insight into his attitude and offers advice to players

Famous for his laid-back approach around the table and at events, Williams does feel that aspects of his attitude are misunderstood and that other players could improve if they adopt a similar stance.

Speaking to the World Snooker Tour after his Xi’an glory, Williams said: "Of course I care. People misunderstand you when I say I don't care. I mean, I try my absolute nuts off, and as soon as I lose, that's it, there's no moaning or dwelling over it. I don't care when I lose...it's only a snooker match.

"But when I'm out there I'm trying to win every game. But people say 'oh, he does care' - of course I care, I want to win, but as soon as I finish the match, win or lose, I don't care, it makes no difference.

"I never beat myself up or ever worry about a defeat or nothing, if you did, then you're struggling in this game because like I said many, many times I'm playing snooker for a living, travelling the world, and the worst thing that can happen to me is I lose 5-0 - that's it, that's the worse thing.

"I think if a lot more players took that attitude they might see a little bit of improvement.”

Following his largely scrappy 6-3 semi-final win over Daniel Wells the day before, Williams didn’t appear bothered about being on the cusp of becoming professional snooker’s oldest-ever ranking event champion, saying: "Being the oldest at something, it's not really a record is it”?

However, looking at the longevity of his top-flight career and ongoing success, you could see that Williams is a proud man of his achievements: "Unbelievable. I mean I can't honestly believe how I'm still winning tournaments; it's just amazing because I don't know how I'm doing it.

"I've got to be honest because I'm not playing enough, practise enough to really compete in the latter stages of tournaments because you just can't do it now these days, but here I am, when I'm at the venue I try and play as much as I can and you've got to scrape me off the table. I don't know, I just seem to be scraping results and then playing well in the final.

"I don't know, us three, they keep going on about the ’92 boys…somehow we keep trucking on”

Visit our 2025 Xi’an Grand Prix tournament information centre here for details on the draw, results, prize money, schedule and how to watch.