Mark Williams becomes oldest winner of a snooker ranking tournament

Fifty-year-old Mark Williams broke a record which had stood since 1982 as he became the oldest player to win a ranking tournament in snooker with victory at the Xi'an Grand Prix in Xi'an, northwest China's Shaanxi Province on Monday.

The Welsh player had a 7-1 lead over Englishman Shaun Murphy from Sunday's first session of the first-to-10-frames match and closed it out to win 10-3.

Williams shook hands with Murphy and waved to the audience in acknowledgment after securing his 27th career title in his 44th final.

At 50 years and 206 days old, Williams broke the record set 43 years ago by Ray Reardon. He was 50 years and 14 days old when he won the 1982 Professional Players Tournament, the World Snooker Tour said.

Williams also becomes the first player in snooker history to win ranking titles in his teens, 20s, 30s, 40s and 50s.

Williams earned 177,000 pounds ($236,000) along with the title, his first since April 2024, and moves up a place to fourth in the world rankings ahead of snooker great Ronnie O'Sullivan.