Mark Williams closing in on breaking near 43-year snooker record after reaching Xi'an Grand Prix final

50-year-old Williams is now one win away from becoming professional snooker's oldest-ever ranking event champion, breaking a record that compatriot Ray Reardon set in 1982 when he won the Professional Players Tournament.

Williams' route to the last four in Xi’an had not been a straightforward one having survived deciding frame finishes against Barry Hawkins and Lyu Haotian in the previous two rounds.

In his semi-final tie on Sunday at the Qujiang Athletic Center, Williams recovered from the loss of the opening frame to go 2-1 up, although world number 47 Wells - aiming to reach his maiden final - claimed frames either side of the mid-session interval to nudge 3-2 ahead.

Three-time world champion Williams levelled at 3-3. Up to this point, the contest had been a scrappy, protracted affair and not a single half-century break, with table conditions perhaps playing a part.

However, world number five Williams stepped it up, fashioning a run of 129 in frame seven before a 53 helped him to reach the hill first at 5-3 up.

Appearing in back-to-back Xi'an semi-finals, 37-year-old Wells battled on in frame nine, successfully obtaining penalty points when needing snookers, but it was grandmaster Williams who eventually sealed the deal to set up a final meeting with either Shaun Murphy or Gary Wilson.

It will be Williams' first final date since making the World Championship showpiece in May where he was denied a fourth Crucible crown by Zhao Xintong.

The 26-time ranking event winner has had a solid start to this season, though, reaching the semi-finals of the last Chinese event, the Wuhan Open, and quarter-final outcomes at the Saudi Arabia Masters and British Open.

Williams' last ranking event triumph came at the Tour Championship in April 2024, although he did collect the Champion of Champions invitational accolade last November.

The Welsh Potting Machine's most recent success on Chinese or Asian soil arrived at the 2018 World Open.

Williams downbeat about form and unbothered about record-breaking potential

Speaking to the World Snooker Tour after the match, Williams was brutally honest about his latest performance and overall form this week in China. He said: "scraped over the line again today, glad to win, but apart from the one century break it was really tough out there.

"I struggled all match. Honestly, I don't know how I'm in the final because I haven't played, no form at all to get to the final, let's be honest, I've played one good match against Barry (Hawkins in the last 16), the rest has been pretty poor but I stick in there. I scraped a few results, but can I do it once more? Probably not; I've got to play a lot better than that in the final.

"But I'm in the final, like I'll try my best, who knows?"

Six-time world champion Reardon was 50 years and 14 days when he defeated Jimmy White 10-5 in the final of the Professional Players Tournament in October 1982 to set the existing record as professional snooker's oldest-ever ranking event winner. Williams is now more than six months older than Reardon was at the time.

However, when asked how special it would be to break the record of his adored fellow countryman, Williams didn't seem too bothered about history-making.

"Being the oldest at something, it's not really a record is it?" Williams said. "If I did manage to win it, probably Ronnie (O'Sullivan) or John Higgins would beat it in a few months time anyway.

"No, it's just nice to be in the final, and if I can win a tournament it'll be great".

The two-session, best of 19 frames Xi'an Grand Prix final takes place on Monday with afternoon (07:00BST) and evening (12:30BST) sessions.

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