Barry Hawkins is still hunting down a first Triple Crown and after watching Mark Williams lift a ranking title at 50 years old, hope remains that he will manage it.
The Hawk has been to the finals of the World Championship, Masters (twice) and UK Championship, but fallen short in all three major tournament showpieces.
Two of those have been against Ronnie O’Sullivan, while Judd Trump and Neil Robertson have also got the better of him in Triple Crown finals, so it is greats of the game who have beaten him to the biggest titles.
It was only last year Trump beat Hawkins 10-8 in a great UK Championship final and the 46-year-old remains set on winning more trophies as he approaches 50, especially the big ones.
Williams became the oldest ever ranking event winner at the Xi’an Grand Prix this month, so the Hawk feels he has plenty of time at the top yet.
‘He’s obviously inspiring all of us because it just gives us a little bit more hope, I suppose,’ Hawkins told Metro of Williams, who beat him 5-4 on his way to the Xi’an title.
‘I’m 46 now and he’s 50, but he’s still winning tournaments. We had a great game in China, I think I missed two balls. He still pots balls off the lampshades. He says his eyes are going, what a load of rubbish that is.
‘He keeps potting long balls for fun. Not easy ones either. So yeah, it gives us hope, if he’s still doing it. Obviously he’s one of the greats, but hopefully I’ve still got a bit more time.’
He added: ‘I’d love to win one of the Triple Crowns. I haven’t really got many goals, I just want to win a tournament.
‘I would have liked to have picked a few more trophies up along the way, but hopefully there’s still time. Obviously one of the Triple Crowns would be the icing on the cake.’
The Hawk is bidding for Northern Ireland Open glory this week in Belfast but faces a test in rising Irish star Aaron Hill in the last 32.
The 23-year-old has been in impressive form this season, making two 147s, and looked great in his 4-1 first round win over Scottish Open champion Lei Peifan, knocking in two centuries.
‘From 1-0 down it was near enough the perfect performance,’ Hill told Metro after beating Lei. ‘Delighted with how I played.
‘I was just on it today, it would be nice if you could be like that in every match. Mentally, nothing else mattered, the crowd weren’t there.
‘It was just me and the table, when you can get in that kind of zone, it’s the best feeling ever.’
Hill is climbing the rankings but is yet to go beyond a quarter-final, something he expects to change soon.
‘I’d like to believe it’s only the start for me,’ he said. ‘I’ve shown a glimpse of what I can do this season. But I won’t just settle for that, I want to be better and better and chase those trophies.’