The Japan Times - Williams beats Trump to set up World Snooker final with Zhao

Williams will now face surprise finalist Zhao Xintong of China, who defeated seven-time world champion Ronnie O'Sullivan in the other semi-final, in the best of 35-frame showpiece match on Sunday and Monday.

At the age of 50, Wales' Williams is the oldest world championship finalist since the tournament moved to the Crucible in Sheffield in 1977.

Williams fought back from a four-frame deficit against Trump, the world number one, to end Friday's play against the 2019 world champion all square at 8-8.

But Williams pulled clear Saturday and was on the brink of victory at 16-12 ahead.

Trump, however, closed to within two frames after the 35-year-old Englishman extended the record he set earlier in the tournament for most centuries in a season with his 107th three-figure break of the campaign.

Nevertheless, Williams held his nerve in the 31st frame, with a break of 123 sealing victory as he reached the world final for the first time since the third of his Crucible triumphs in 2018.

- 'Tension' -

"I was starting to twitch towards the end, I'm not going to lie," Williams told the BBC.

"I nearly missed the black in the last frame -- I did feel a bit of tension on the back arm."

Williams, a member of snooker's celebrated 'Class of 92', along with O'Sullivan and John Higgins, who between them have won 14 world titles, added: "I can't believe I'm in another final -- I don't know how I'm doing to be honest."

The left-hander's form at the Crucible has been all the more impressive given his problems with his eyesight at recent events.

"I really struggled with my eyes in the past couple of tournaments and I've tried everything -- contacts, varifocals," said Williams. "I left it for Lee (coach Lee Walker) to decide because he knows if I'm playing alright and how I'm hitting them, and he said he thought I was better off going without them."

Trump had no complaints about his defeat, saying: "I didn't do much wrong, a few little mistakes on safety, it wasn't quite firing but it wasn't that far off.

"When you play someone as good as Mark, everything is magnified."

Zhao, bidding to become the first Chinese player to win the world title, produced one of the great Crucible shocks to defeat England's O'Sullivan, widely regarded as the best player in snooker history, 17-7 on Friday to earn his maiden appearance in the world final.

So commanding was the 28-year-old left-hander, who in 2021 won the UK Championship -- snooker's second-most prestigious title -- he defeated his idol with a session to spare.

Zhao had to come through four qualifying rounds just to reach the main draw in Sheffield as he continues his comeback after a 20-month ban for involvement in a betting scandal.

But Zhao, now playing as an amateur, has since defeated Jak Jones, Lei Peifan, Chris Wakelin and O'Sullivan to join Ding Junhui as the only other player from China to reach the world final.

T.Kobayashi--JT