In the early morning of April 8, Beijing time, the 23/24 World Snooker Tour Championship ended the second stage of the final. After falling behind 3-5 in the first stage, Mark Williams turned on the counteroffensive mode in the second stage, was invincible, played 7 consecutive whips, defeated the world No. 1 O'Sullivan 10-5, and successfully reached the top.
"75 Three Heroes" Ronnie O'Sullivan and Mark Williams, the two sides have played each other 50 times in the tour before, and the "Rocket" has an absolute upper hand with 34 wins, 3 draws and 13 losses; O'Sullivan has an absolute advantage of 18 wins and 6 losses in the 24 meetings in the ranking round; the two sides have also played each other 5 times in the finals, and the "Rocket" has 4 wins and 1 loss. However, the last time the two sides met was in the 2023 Snooker Masters 1/4 finals, when the "Golden Left Hand" narrowly won 6-5.
Needless to say, O'Sullivan's comprehensive strength is a unique existence, full of confidence and a strong aura. Mark Williams was in a burst of state in this game, sweeping Trump, especially in the semifinals with Mark Allen, which not only reflected the world's No. 1 single-ball accurate offensive skills, but also used a strong defense to make Allen full of holes. The final should be a five-to-five game, and O'Sullivan's aura can't affect Mark Williams. It's all about playing and adjusting, but the only thing that's certain is that it's going to be a blockbuster showdown that can go down in history!
Sure enough, after the opening of the first stage, Mark Williams scored 66 points in a single stroke to take the next game, and in the second game, Ronnie O'Sullivan won the score to equalize, and then Williams scored 91 points and 67 points in a single stroke to win two more games, and after the break, O'Sullivan won four games in a row and scored 102, 127, 59 and 121 points in a single stroke, and at the end of the first stage, O'Sullivan temporarily led Williams with a score of 5-3.
The second phase of the match between the two sides began at 2 a.m. After the opening, Mark Williams turned on the counterattack mode, playing a single stroke of 104, 99, 54 to chase four games in a row, leading O'Sullivan 7-5 and entering the halftime break. After returning from the break, Mark Williams continued to chase hard, regained absolute accuracy, scored 112 and 78 points in a single stroke, won 3 games in a row, and defeated O'Sullivan 10-5. What is surprising is that in the entire second stage, Mark Williams played 7 consecutive whips, and O'Sullivan did not win a game.
Congratulations to Mark Williams for winning the championship at the age of 49, and the two top masters of Linktrump and O'Sullivan definitely embody the master's level. Mark won the event for the first time, becoming the first Welsh champion in the history of the race. Following the 2023 British Open, after 6 months and 6 days (189 days), he won his second ranking title of the season and his second title of the season (2 championships and 1 runner-up in ranking tournaments), and the number of ranking tournament titles increased to 26, leaving Neal Robertson (23) 3 crowns and occupying the sixth place in the all-time ranking championship list alone, 2 short of Steve Davis and Judd Trump (28). In the new world rankings, he surpassed Ding Junhui (486,500 pounds) with 557,500 pounds to return to sixth in the world, and at the same time, he also surpassed Ding Junhui (286,000 pounds) to rise to fourth in the single-season ranking list with 353,000 pounds.
"75 Three Heroes" really deserves its name, O'Sullivan's comprehensive strength is the best man in the universe, Mark Williams is the best accurate man in the world, I wish the two veterans continue to shine in the World Championships and continue to bring wonderful games to fans!