Who won snooker's first ever major ranking event in China?

The World Snooker Tour returns to China for the start of the inaugural Xi’an Grand Prix on Monday, the second ranking event of the 2024/25 campaign and second of five major events in the country this season.

Snooker in China has grown massively in public popularity since the country first hosted a ranking event 34 years ago when seven-time world champion Stephen Hendry defeated 1985 Crucible winner Dennis Taylor 9-3 in the final of the Asian Open in Guangzhou in November 1990.

Hendry’s win came four years after his old rival Steve Davis had completed a 3-0 win over Terry Griffiths in the final of the invitational China Masters in August 1986, a momentous match that gave Shanghai the honour of hosting the nation’s first major tournament.

Despite the presence of the sport’s all-time greats in travelling to China, the next ranking event in the country was not staged until March 1999 when John Higgins completed a 9-3 final win over fellow Scot Billy Snaddon in Shanghai.

Home success was only a matter of time.

The first Chinese player to capture a ranking title was 18-year-old Ding Junhui, who overcame Hendry 9-5 to secure the China Open title in April 2005 with a television audience of 110 million watching the historic triumph.

The vast majority of the modern greats of the game have all claimed trophies in China, including world champions Kyren Wilson, Ronnie O’Sullivan, John Higgins, Neil Robertson, Mark Williams, Mark Selby, Mark Allen, Shaun Murphy, Peter Edbon and Graeme Dott.

Selby has appeared in the most ranking finals in China, winning seven times from 11 final appearances between 2011 and 2018.

Record 41-time ranking event winner O’Sullivan enjoyed the first of his four title wins in China with a 9-2 win over Stephen Lee in the China Open final in Shanghai in December 1999 while also claiming three more invitational trophies at the elite Shanghai Masters.