Zhao Xintong has delivered his immediate reaction after being crowned China's first World Snooker Championship winner. Zhao withstood a stirring comeback from Mark Williams to complete an 18-12 victory at the Crucible on Monday. Resuming the final session one frame short of victory, Zhao was forced to wait for his history-making moment as the Welsh veteran reeled off four in a row to stretch the match beyond a mid-session interval. Speaking to BBC Sport, the brand new world champion said: "I can't believe what I do. Very exciting. Thank you." Zhao was also full of praise for his opponent, he said: "I'm so nervous tonight. Mark Williams is still a top player, he gave me so much pressure. He's the best." Meanwhile, Williams, at 50 the oldest finalist in Crucible history, had his chances to further reduce the deficit before Zhao recovered his poise to rocket in a match-clinching break of 87 and raise a Chinese flag in front of the Crucible crowd. Despite loss, Williams showed his class by heaping praise on Zhao who he believes is the “new superstar of the game”. "What a potter he is, over there," Williams said to BBC Sport. "I'm glad I'll be too old when he's dominating the game! "I've got nothing but admiration for what he's done - hadn't played for two years, come through qualifiers, bashed Ronnie up, bashed me up... bashed everybody up! "What can you say? There's a new superstar of the game, and he's over there." Additional reporting by PA Sport.