Williams defeats Trump in World Championship semi-final

Mark Williams has reached his fifth world final

Three-time champion Mark Williams produced a vintage display to defeat world number one Judd Trump 17-14, becoming the oldest ever player to reach a World Championship final.

The Welshman, who turned 50 in March, eclipses his compatriot Ray Reardon, who won the title six times and appeared in the 1982 final as a 49-year-old.

Williams had trailed 7-3 early in the match but his enduring class shone through as he reined in the 2019 winner to 8-8 on Friday, then pulled clear over two sessions on Saturday to avenge his 17-16 loss to Trump in their last-four Crucible thriller in 2022.

"I was starting to twitch towards the end, I'm not going to lie. I nearly missed the black in the last frame - I did feel a bit of tension on the back arm," Williams told BBC Sport.

"I'm never normally nervous at any stage but I was in that break. I can't believe I'm in another final - I don't know how I'm doing to be honest."

Resuming 13-11 up, the Welshman took the first two frames with half centuries before Trump responded with his 106th century of a fruitful campaign, which has yielded six appearances in finals.

However, when Trump hit a safety shot too thinly, it left Williams among the balls and he capitalised with a superb 100 break of his own to lead 16-12 at the mid-session interval.

The 35-year-old Englishman, who was looking to add to his world crown from 2019, took the 29th frame and made a 116 clearance when Williams missed a red to the left middle to get back to 16-14.

His hopes of a revival were dashed when he missed a difficult black to the right corner and Williams wrapped up a famous victory with his second century of the evening.

"Mark was the more consistent player throughout and in the end he really deserved the win. There are no negatives, I tried my heart out and just ran out of steam," Trump said.

"Any other player apart from Mark and I probably would have been in the final, so I think you just have to take your hat off to him, he was too good over the three days and I'll try to improve for next year."

Williams will now face China's Zhao Xintong in the first world final to be contested by two left-handed players.

Their best-of-35 encounter will get under way on Sunday at 13:00 BST, which will be live on BBC Two.

'I want my deposit back'

It has been a remarkable turnaround in fortunes for Williams since he insisted that opponents would be "praying" to be drawn against him in the build-up to the tournament due to his well-documented eyesight problems.

He was thrashed 10-3 at the Tour Championship by Ding Junhui in March and suffered losses to Stuart Bingham and Akani Songsermsawad at the World Grand Prix and World Open.

And while he defeated John Higgins in a Crucible classic 13-12 in the quarter-finals, the bookmakers all favoured Trump to triumph from this encounter.

Trump had arguably been the standout player of the tournament and for the most part had exhibited a steely determination to add to his trophy haul in Sheffield.

Had he triumphed in the sport's blue-riband event he would have also become the first player to break the £2m barrier for prize money in a single campaign - a notable reminder of the excellence he has shown on a consistent basis.

Yet Williams was superior in almost every metric and will remarkably now face one of snooker's new guard, some 22 years his junior, who was only two when the Welshman featured in his first Crucible final in 1999.

"I came here with not much form, I lost in the first round in the past few tournaments, but I wasn't really too concerned," Williams added.

"I worked in the club from half past eight every morning for four or five hours, me and Lee [Walker, Williams' coach], and we've been putting the hours in just to try to get a bit of form, trying with contacts [lenses] and without contacts.

"I really struggled with my eyes in the past couple of tournaments and I've tried everything - contacts, varifocals. I left it for Lee 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.

"Lens replacement was booked for 12 June - deposit paid - but I'm going to have to have a think. I want my deposit back."

No refunds for afternoon session

Earlier on Saturday, fans were refused refunds for what was meant to be the fourth session of the semi-final between Ronnie O'Sullivan and Zhao Xintong.

Zhao's 17-7 victory over the 'Rocket' was delivered with a session to spare, meaning there was no competitive action in the afternoon at the Crucible.

An exhibition featuring Steve Davis and Dennis Taylor - 40 years on from Taylor's victory in their famous black-ball final - was instead provided, along with a question-and-answer session with seven-time winner Stephen Hendry and 1997 champion Ken Doherty.

The World Snooker Tour (WST) said its box office terms and conditions mean it is "unable to offer ticket refunds or exchanges".

Ticket prices for the session, including fees, ranged from £121 to £660.

WST said: "This is the first time in over a decade that a semi-final has finished a session early, so it is a very rare occurrence and unfortunately beyond our control."