The 2025 Xi’an Grand Prix concludes on Monday with the final promising to be a blockbuster battle between Mark Williams and Shaun Murphy.
Williams first reached the title-deciding affair at the Quijang Athletic Center with a 6-3 defeat of Daniel Wells.
Later on the penultimate day, Murphy fought his way back from 3-1 behind to oust Gary Wilson with a 6-4 scoreline.
The Magician sustained his tremendous level of scoring that he has produced throughout the tournament, adding breaks of 141 and 140 to his tally of tons.
Murphy is clearly the most in-form competitor on the circuit at present and will bid to win back-to-back ranking titles for the first time.
The reigning Masters champion‘s form wasn’t terrible anyway, but he has been completely transformed since he briefly dropped outside the world’s top 16 earlier in the campaign.
Murphy, who won last month’s British Open, certainly doesn’t have to worry about his membership among the elite any longer.
The 43 year-old is already back up to number nine on the official two-year list and could rise to as high as number seven if he lands the £177,000 top prize in Xi’an.
Such is his consistent high standard, Murphy obviously heads into the Xi’an Grand Prix final as the favourite for glory.
However, the Englishman comes up against one of the sport’s most formidable opponents and someone chasing his own little piece of snooker history.
Success for Williams would take his career ranking title tally to 27, but more importantly it would see him break the record for the oldest-ever champion at this level.
Fellow Welshman Ray Reardon has held that record for 43 years, triumphing at the 1982 Professional Players Tournament at the age of 50 years and 14 days.
Williams will be aged 50 years and 206 days when he participates in Monday’s showdown for the silverware.
The three-time world champion hasn’t been anywhere near his best in this event but has grafted his way through to a 44th career ranking final.
Williams boasts a narrowly inferior head-to-head record against Murphy from their previous ties in all competitions, winning 15 to the latter’s 16.
But this year’s World Championship runner-up has recently thumped Murphy, winning 6-1 in their round-of-16 fixture at the Saudi Arabia Snooker Masters.
Their respective forms heading into this final would suggest that the score could be lopsided in the other direction.
It’s difficult to make any assertive prediction as to the outcome, though, with two players of such pedigree vying for the trophy.
Either way, it promises to be a fascinating climax to the latest event on the busy snooker calendar.
The 2025 Xi’an Grand Prix final is a best-of-19 frames encounter, played on Monday over two sessions at 7am and 12:30pm UTC+1 (BST).
2025 Xi’an Grand Prix
Round of 32 (bo9)
Kyren Wilson 5-2 Yuan Sijun
Shaun Murphy 5-4 Wu Yize
Elliot Slessor 4-5 Oliver Lines
Louis Heathcote 3-5 Ding Junhui
Ronnie O’Sullivan 5-0 Stephen Maguire
David Lilley 3-5 Jak Jones
Gary Wilson 5-4 Mateusz Baranowski
He Guoqiang 5-4 Neil Robertson
Matthew Stevens 4-5 Lyu Haotian
Stan Moody 0-5 Stuart Bingham
Thepchaiya Un-Nooh 2-5 Barry Hawkins
Zhou Yuelong 2-5 Mark Williams
Liam Pullen 5-0 Noppon Saengkham
Mark Davis 1-5 Aaron Hill
Daniel Wells 5-3 Si Jiahui
Jimmy Robertson 4-5 Robert Milkins
Round of 16 (bo9)
Kyren Wilson 0-5 Shaun Murphy
Oliver Lines 1-5 Ding Junhui
Ronnie O’Sullivan 5-2 Jak Jones
Gary Wilson 5-0 He Guoqiang
Lyu Haotian 5-3 Stuart Bingham
Barry Hawkins 4-5 Mark Williams
Liam Pullen 5-1 Aaron Hill
Daniel Wells 5-2 Robert Milkins
Quarter-Finals (bo9)
Shaun Murphy 5-3 Ding Junhui
Ronnie O’Sullivan 2-5 Gary Wilson
Lyu Haotian 4-5 Mark Williams
Liam Pullen 2-5 Daniel Wells
Semi-Final (bo11)
Shaun Murphy 6-4 Gary Wilson
Mark Williams 6-3 Daniel Wells
Final (bo19)
Shaun Murphy vs Mark Williams
Monday, Oct 13th at 7am and 12:30pm UTC+1 (BST)
Click here for the updated draw and results (snooker.org)
Featured photo credit: WST
