Zhao Xintong dominated the opening session of the World Championship final against an out-of-sorts Mark Williams to construct a commanding 7-1 lead.
It was the perfect start for Zhao as he bids to become China’s first world champion and only the third player from outside the UK to win the title since 1997.
Breaks of 51 and 77 set the tone in the opening frame after three-time winner Williams missed a long red.
Far from appearing overawed, the 28-year-old, who had to come through qualifying, seemed right at home in his first Crucible final.
He followed up with a century in the second frame and when he took the third on the black against a toiling Williams, he was on course for a healthy advantage.
While Williams briefly stopped the rot before the mid-session interval, he lost a tight fifth frame, then broke down on 61 in the next when he failed to sink the penultimate red to the top corner and was heavily punished as Zhao ruthlessly cleared the table.
Zhao, who won the UK Championship in 2021 but then served a 20-month ban for his involvement in a match-fixing scandal which rocked the sport, is hoping to join Terry Griffiths and Shaun Murphy as the only qualifiers to land snooker’s biggest prize since the tournament’s 1977 move to South Yorkshire.
He rounded off an impressive afternoon with his second century and a break of 83.
The best-of-35 final resumes at 19:00 BST on Sunday, with the winner on Monday earning a top prize of £500,000.
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