Adam Williams presents his prediction for the 2025 Tour Championship snooker tournament.
Mark Williams and Ding Junhui will play in the first round of the Tour Championship, with the winner of that match taking on world champion Kyren Wilson in the quarter-finals. It will be the third match between Williams and Ding in the 2024/25 season.
Mark Williams
Three-time world champion Mark Williams was world number one in 2001 and 2011 and is currently ranked number 5, and it is only his class that has allowed The Welsh Potting Machine to be one of the best players in the world for 30 years. Williams has made 659 centuries and three maximums and he is one of the most consistent players in the world, while his 26 titles make him a legend of Welsh snooker and one of the most exciting players of all time. Williams won the prestigious Champion of Champions this season, beating Xiao Guodong 10-6 in the final, and also reached the final of the Saudi Arabian Masters, where he lost 9-10 in the deciding frame to Judd Trump.
Ding Junhui
The Dragon is currently world number 9, but he was world number one ten years ago, and it has been a long road to this goal for Ding Junhui. He sensationally won the China Open in 2005, beating the great Stephen Hendry 9-5 in the final, although Ding Junghui was a wild card at the time. And since then, he has been the best Chinese snooker player, who has won 15 titles and made 691 centuries, but he has never become world champion. And it is very similar to the case of Kyren Wilson. If Ding Junhui had become world champion, he would have won many trophies after that. Ding Junhui has won the Masters and the UK Championship, but he was unable to collect the Triple Crown, because in 2016 he lost to Mark Selby in the final of the World Championship 14-18.
Mark Williams vs Ding Junhui Prediction
Mark Williams and Ding Junhui have had two head-to-head games in the 2024/2025 season, with Ding Junhui winning at the Masters 6-5, and Williams winning at the Players Championship 6-2. Now there will be a best of 19 match, and in the history of their head-to-head games there has only been one such game - the final of the China Open 2010. Mark Williams won that final 10-6, and I think Williams will win this time too. Mark plays more relaxed and without pressure for the result, and in such matches, this comes to the fore, especially if there will be a few centuries and half-centuries.
