Tour Championship: Mark Williams delivers vintage display to beat Ronnie O’Sullivan 10-5 in final

Mark Williams produced a vintage performance to beat Ronnie O’Sullivan 10-5 in the final of the Tour Championship in Manchester.

Williams, 49, who had trailed 5-3, compiled two century breaks and three half-centuries as he reeled off seven consecutive frames to triumph.

Victory secured him a 26th ranking title of his career in front of a capacity crowd.

The Welshman also collects the £150,000 cheque for winning the tournament.

“I never thought I’d be winning tournaments at 49,” Williams said.

“The World Championships are around the corner. He’s the man to beat, but you never know. I’ll try my best. He played like God for four frames and I was glad the interval came because there was no stopping him.

“He didn’t play as well tonight but I think that is because I put some pressure on him and he started to miss towards the end. I could see him getting frustrated and he missed a few he’d normally never miss but I’m over the moon with that.”

Williams had come into the contest with an unenviable record against the Englishman, a fellow member of snooker’s famed Class of ’92, having lost 22 of his previous 24 meetings against O’Sullivan.

But he has now triumphed against all of the world’s top three players – O’Sullivan, Judd Trump and Mark Allen – on his way to a second ranking title of the season, having won the British Open in October, and his first success in the Tour Championship.

While seven-time world champion O’Sullivan was unable to record a sixth title in a remarkable season to date, the 48-year-old is certain to head to the Crucible for the World Championship in two weeks as the world number one and is enjoying an unbroken spell of 734 days at the top of the rankings.

Williams, appearing in his 41st ranking event final, made a strong start with three half-centuries to lead 3-1 but saw O’Sullivan, in his 64th, make breaks of 102, 127, 59 and 121 in just 37 minutes to go 5-3 ahead.

However, Williams, a three-time world champion himself, responded magnificently in the evening, winning a scrappy ninth frame before producing an array of stunning pots in a run of 104 to level the match.

Breaks of 54 and 99 swung the contest back into his favour as he went 7-5 ahead, and he was able to move towards the finish line with further breaks of 112 and 78.