"The peak of my powers was between 24 and 31": Evergreen Mark Williams into Wuhan semis

The three-time World Champion will meet reigning and defending Wuhan Open champion Xiao Guodong in the best-of-11 frames semi-finals on Friday.

Welshman Williams took the opening frame of his quarter-final tie with a break of 74, but world number 12 Zhang levelled up with the help of a 50.

However, 50-year-old Williams strung together the next four frames - registering runs of 58, 83 and 60 in the process - to reach the 68th ranking event semi-final of his long, illustrious career.

Williams is now two victories away from becoming the oldest winner of a world ranking event in professional snooker history. The late Ray Reardon currently holds that record; he was aged 50 years and 14 days when he triumphed at the 1982 Professional Players Tournament.

Earlier this year, Williams rewrote snooker history in becoming the oldest-ever world finalist - eclipsing Reardon’s previous benchmark which was also set in 1982.

Despite reported eyesight issues, ‘The Welsh Potting Machine’ is showing no signs of slowing down. Currently ranked fifth in the world, he won his maiden Champion of Champions title last season, and either side of that he made the finals of the Saudi Arabia Masters, and the aforementioned World Championship at the Crucible Theatre.

A couple of seasons ago, Williams claimed two ranking titles: the British Open, and the Tour Championship - defeating Mark Selby and Ronnie O’Sullivan in those respective finals.

Should Williams get past Xiao and then win the final in Wuhan over the coming days, it would represent his 27th ranking crown overall, and mean title successes have arrived in five different decades of his life - teens, 20s, 30s, 40s and 50s.

Consistently still one of the top operators in the sport, Williams feels he was at his best over 20 years ago. Speaking to the World Snooker Tour after his last eight win, he said: “I’ve got to pinch myself sometimes with what I’m doing. The peak of my powers was between 24 and 31. I’m 20 years past that and I’m still getting to semi-finals of tournaments. It is incredible when you sit back and think of it.

“If you had said to me five years ago I would still be in semi-finals and competing I wouldn’t have believed you but here we still are. I’m still giving the top players in the world a run for their money. How long it will go on for, I don’t know. I just have to enjoy it.”

Champion Xiao makes it a Wuhan dozen

Title holder Xiao remains on course for back-to-back Wuhan Open crowns after he ended the fantastic run of English teenager Stan Moody.

Appearing in the first quarter-final of his professional career, Moody settled in with a break of 61 as he deposited the opening frame. However, Xiao - who compiled a maximum 147 break during his first round win - crafted efforts of 94, 87 and 100 as he went into the mid-session interval 3-1 up.

On resumption, recent World Games gold medallist Xiao extended his lead. Moody kept his hopes alive with frame six, and made a 63 in frame seven, but it was Xiao who took it on the final black to progress.

World number 14 Xiao stretches his Wuhan Open winning streak to 12 matches. The 36-year-old is aiming to join an elite band of players who retained their maiden ranking title.

Visit our 2025 Wuhan Open tournament information centre here for the draw, results, and details on the format, schedule, prize money and how to watch.