Stephen Hendry predicts Zhao Xintong will beat Mark Williams to win the World Snooker Championship final.
Zhao secured his place in the final – the first player from China to do so since Ding Junhui in 2016 – with an impressive 17-7 victory over Ronnie O’Sullivan on Friday night.
The 28-year-old will now face Williams – the oldest-ever finalist at the Crucible at the age of 50 – after he saw off Judd Trump in an epic semi-final match.
Trump had taken a 7-3 lead but Williams battled back and in Saturday evening’s session the Welshman sealed a 17-14 victory against the world number one.
Williams, who has won three world titles, has reached the final at the Crucible for the first time in seven years following his 18-16 victory against John Higgins in 2018.
Ahead of the final which starts at 1pm on Sunday, seven-time world champion Hendry believes Zhao will beat Williams.
‘Zhao Xintong has been irresistible,’ Hendry told BBC Sport.
‘What he does is win bunches of frames with no reply.
‘He got lots of chances against Ronnie, you can’t get away from it – Ronnie was bad. He got lots of chances to score, he will not get that luxury against Mark Williams. But he’s still a sensational scorer and Mark’s got to be wary of that.’
Speaking alongside Hendry for the BBC, six-time world champion Steve Davis said of Zhao: ‘He seems like he’s a big-occasion player.
‘It feels like this goes two ways – either Xintong is an absolute flying machine and he just blasts Mark off the table, or Mark puts him through the wringer.
‘We don’t really know which of those is going to happen and Mark gives him a lesson in all of match play.’
Hendry then added on Williams’ form at the Crucible this year: ‘He’s also scoring heavily. He’s scoring very, very heavily.
‘He’s not just using his craft, the dark arts, he’s potting lots long balls and scoring very heavily . Along with everything else he does that’s pretty hard to beat.’
When asked to pick his winner, Hendry replied: ‘It’s difficult, I think Xintong.
‘I think he’s scoring too heavily and winning too many frames in a row.’
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