MARK WILLIAMS has played down the chance to become the oldest winner of a ranking major and says “Ronnie O’Sullivan would probably beat it anyway”.
The 50-year-old has reached the final of the Xi’an Grand Prix after seeing off Daniel Wells in the semi-finals and will play Shaun Murphy on Monday.
GettyMark Williams has played down the chance to become the oldest winner of a ranking title at the Xi’an Grand Prix[/caption]
Shutterstock EditorialHe claimed even if he did win, Ronnie O’Sullivan “would probably beat it anyway”[/caption]
Williams has guaranteed himself at least £76,000 even if he loses to Murphy and will pocket £177,000 if he claims the title.
But the veteran star will also make history with victory as he will surpass Ray Reardon as the oldest winner of a major event.
However, he insists he is not fazed about the record and believes that even if he was to achieve it, his rival O’Sullivan would leapfrog him shortly after.
He said: “Being the oldest? That’s not really a record, is it?
“If I did manage to win it, Ronnie O’Sullivan or John Higgins will probably beat it in a few months’ time anyway.
“It’s nice to be in the final, and if I can win a tournament, it’d be great. It’s great that I’m still somehow doing it.
“If you’d given me the quarters before I came out, I’d have bitten your hand off. If you had given me the final, I’d have bitten your whole body off.”
O’Sullivan was hoping to achieve the record himself in China but came up short in the quarter-finals as he was beaten 5-2 by Gary Wilson.
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The Rocket had come into the match in fine form having dropped just three frames in the whole tournament.
He was hopeful of ending his 21-month drought without a ranking title but was blown away by Wilson.
Wilson has since been defeated in the semi-finals by Murphy and the honour now falls to Williams to take the spotlight.
He secured a 6-3 win over Wells in the semis as he hit a high break of 129.
But while victory in the final will boost his bank balance, he was left fuming that a decent chunk of the £177,000 prize might be tied to his flight home.
He raged at British Airways for charging him £12,000 to change his flight to a different day.
Williams wrote on X: “Nice airline @BritishAirways. 12k to change my flight from tomorrow to Wednesday, time to start flying with a different airline.
“WTF do they get the prices from?”
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