ZHAO XINTONG was crowned China’s first world snooker champion on a defining night for the sport in Sheffield and his vanquished opponent Mark Williams believes the sky is the limit for the new Crucible king.

Williams, a member of the fabled “Class of ’92,” conjured comparisons with a young Ronnie O’Sullivan after Zhao withstood a gutsy fightback from the veteran Welshman to wrap up an historic 18-12 victory.

Williams said: “He [Zhao] is as good to watch as O’Sullivan was when he was younger. He just strolls around the table and pots balls from anywhere as if he doesn’t have a care in the world.

“Xintong is going to be a national hero now. He’ll be on the front page of every news outlet going, and I’m sure there are Chinese companies ready to throw zillions at him.

“It’s great for our sport to have someone at the top who is so attacking and so young.”

Resuming the final session one frame short of victory at 17-8, Zhao remained unflappable watching Williams, at 50 the oldest Crucible finalist, reel off four frames in a row to force a mid-session interval.

The 28-year-old from Xi’an duly responded with a match-clinching break of 87 before celebrating by wrapping himself in a Chinese flag.

“It’s like a dream — I can’t believe it,” said Zhao, who also became only the third qualifier and the first amateur player to triumph at the Crucible, having lost his tour card in January 2023 for his part in a match-fixing scandal.

Zhao had admitted being party to an effort to fix or contrive to fix two matches involving his compatriot Yan Bingtao — the former Masters winner — and despite frequently expressing contrition for his involvement, there may be some who believe his triumph is a tainted one.

“There was big pressure, and I was a bit nervous because I knew I couldn’t miss,” Zhao added. “I knew he could come back so quickly, so I had to concentrate and be very careful.”

Referencing his 20-month ban that expired in September, Zhao added: “I had nearly two years not playing in tour competitions and that’s why I said my first target was to get through qualifying to the Crucible.

“I can’t believe I went on to be champion, but I am back now, and I want to keep going.”

Zhao’s win over Williams was his ninth of the tournament — a record for any champion — and his 47th in 49 matches since he embarked on his comeback with a 3-0 whitewash of Lithuanian Vilius Schulte-Ebbert in the inauspicious surroundings of a Q Tour event in Sofia in September.

Two hundred and twenty-seven days later, Zhao went one better than Ding Junhui, who kick-started the Chinese snooker revolution when he swept to his first of three British titles in 2005 but had never quite managed to emulate that achievement at the Crucible.

Zhao has long been touted as Ding’s heir apparent, O’Sullivan and Jimmy White singling him out as a future star soon after he was handed his first tour card in 2016.

Williams had defied his own low expectations by forcing his way into his fifth Crucible final and eclipsing the previous record set by his fellow Welshman Ray Reardon who was 49 when he lost the 1982 final to Alex Higgins.

Blighted by eye problems and booked in for lens replacement surgery this summer, Williams nevertheless dredged up every inch of his vast experience to edge past fellow veteran John Higgins in a quarter-final classic, then recovered from a 5-1 deficit to sink world number one Judd Trump in the last four.

But Zhao’s lightning start to their seventh career meeting — Williams got the better of a first round qualifying clash in 2017 when he had temporarily slid out of the world’s top 64 — effectively ended any hopes the Welshman had of clawing his way back to wrest a fourth world crown.

A 7-1 deficit first session instead paved the way to victory for Zhao, who was one frame short of becoming the first man to lift the title in an afternoon session since Stephen Hendry obliterated Jimmy White in 1993.

Williams, who is now considering postponing scheduled lens replacement surgery after his surprise run to a fifth Crucible final, added: “I played well all tournament but unfortunately I was never in the final from the first few frames.

“Some of the balls Zhao potted were unbelievable. I used to feel like that at 27 or 28. To do what he’s done, having been out for 20 months then come back and won every game, come here and bashed everyone up in a major tournament, is unbelievable.”