Mark Williams made snooker history at the 2025 Xi’an Grand Prix, crushing Shaun Murphy 10–3 in a one-sided final at the Qujiang Sports Complex to become the oldest player ever to win a ranking event. At 50 years and 206 days, the Welshman surpassed Ray Reardon’s 43-year-old record, set in 1982 when the six-time world champion was 50 years and 14 days old.
Williams was utterly dominant from the first ball. He stormed into a 4–0 lead, conceding just one frame before the mid-session interval to sit 5–1 ahead, then rattled off two more frames including a brilliant 127 clearance to reach 7–1 by the end of the first session. Murphy briefly threatened a response, winning two frames in the evening to close to 8–3, but Williams sealed victory with breaks of 65 and 61 to complete a comprehensive triumph.
The title—Williams’ 27th ranking crown—marks another extraordinary milestone in one of snooker’s most remarkable careers. He becomes the first player in history to win professional titles across five different decades—his teens, twenties, thirties, forties and fifties—a feat that underlines his extraordinary longevity at the very top of the sport. Williams now sits fourth in the world rankings, ahead of longtime rivals Ronnie O’Sullivan and John Higgins.
The tournament also produced three maximum 147 breaks—from Zhou Yuelong, Judd Trump and Aaron Hill—while Murphy had whitewashed defending champion Kyren Wilson 5–0 en route to the final. But this week belonged entirely to Williams, whose dominance served as a reminder that age remains no barrier when talent and desire burn this brightly.
Key facts:
Venue: Qujiang Sports Complex, Xi’an, China
Dates: 7–13 October 2025
Final score: Mark Williams 10–3 Shaun Murphy
Winner’s prize: £177,000 (ranking event)
