Williams seals spot as all-time Welsh sporting great

The history books were rewritten as Mark Williams beat Shaun Murphy 10-3 to win the Xi'an Grand Prix.

Victory for Williams - aged 50 years and 206 days - saw the Welshman become the oldest winner of a ranking event, eclipsing the record of compatriot Ray Reardon, who was 50 years and 14 days old when he won the Professional Players Tournament - now known as the Players Championship - in 1982.

Success in China saw three-time world champion Williams become the first player to win a tour event in his teens, 20s, 30s, 40s and 50s.

He also claimed the £177,000 top prize after what was a 27th ranking title as he further cemented his status as one of the greats of the sport.

"It's unbelievable. I cannot honestly believe how I'm still winning tournaments, it's amazing," Williams told the World Snooker Tour.

"I don't know how I'm doing it, I've got to be honest. I'm not practicing enough to really compete in the latter stages of tournaments because I just can't do it these days.

"But here I am at the venue trying to play as much as I can and you've got to scrape me off the table until that last ball is potted.

"I just seem to be scraping results and playing well in the final."

Williams took a commanding 7-1 lead into the interval, and a 122 break in the opening frame of the final session further highlighted the Welshman's dominance.

Murphy responded with back-to-back frames for the first time to keep his faint hopes of landing the title alive.

But Williams won frames 12 and 13 with impressive breaks of 65 and 61 to clinch the title at the Qujiang Sports Complex.

Speaking on TNT Sports, former British Open champion Fergal O'Brien said: "He (Williams) was a clear second favourite coming into the final.

"To win against very much the man in form, and to win 10-3, it's a remarkable performance."

Williams among Welsh elite

I think back to 2016 when he lost in the quarter-finals of the World Championship to Ding Junhui, he (Williams) said to me afterwards, 'that's probably the last chance I'll ever have of winning the World Championship'.

He confounded everybody two years later by winning the World Championship and he's just carried on since then to be among the world's top players.

He is one of the all-time greats, and the most remarkable thing is his longevity.

He's quite genuine about this, he does have problems with his eyesight, in terms of his long potting.

I spoke to him in Llandudno back in February and that was causing him a real problem.

But he's just got this natural ability. One of his great strengths is his temperament. He's just unflappable, nothing seems to faze him.

He cares about winning, but he'll give the impression that he doesn't get too upset about losing.

I think the fact that he doesn't get too down on himself when he loses or doesn't play well, it's done him the world of good.

I don't think it's an exaggeration to say he is one of the all-time greats of Welsh sport when you consider what he's achieved.

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