LONDON • Shaun Murphy knows a rising star when he sees one.

In 2005, the then 22-year-old became only the third qualifier to win the World Snooker Championship and the second-youngest to do so after Stephen Hendry.

After seeing China's Yan Bingtao stun four-time world champion John Higgins to claim the prestigious Masters title on Sunday, becoming the event's youngest winner in 26 years, the Englishman tweeted: "Remember the name... you'll be seeing a lot more of him."

The 20-year-old, who was not even born when his Scottish opponent, 25 years his senior, won the first of his two Masters in 1999, sealed a 10-8 victory in the closed-door final.

Yan trailed Higgins 5-3 and then 7-5 in the 18th frame but battled back to lay the foundation for his triumph with a composed break of 64 to land his first Triple Crown title.

"I am very excited," he told the BBC after becoming the second Chinese player to win the Masters after Ding Junhui in 2011. "I have imagined how I would celebrate but I am very calm, even though in the last few frames I was not playing very well. But I did not give up."

Like Murphy, Higgins believes Yan will soon be among the biggest names in the sport.

"He is about the same age as my boy. He could be a world champion without a shadow of a doubt, so China is very lucky to have Yan," he said.

Reigning world champion Ronnie O'Sullivan was just 19 when he became the Masters' youngest winner with victory, also over Higgins, in the 1995 final, and the Englishman has since become the defining player of his generation.

He too, feels that in Yan, the future of snooker is in good hands.

Ding is considered to be the most successful Asian snooker player, having made the breakthrough with his victory at the UK Championship in 2009.

But the 33-year-old has not yet become world champion, coming closest in 2016 when he fell in the final to England's Mark Selby.

O'Sullivan, 45, has kept a close eye on Yan's progress in Milton Keynes and is convinced that his success will not only be "very big for the Chinese youngsters" but he can even pass his compatriot's achievements in the game.

"It's a good time to be coming into snooker," 'The Rocket' told Eurosport. "It's hard to say because there might be another three or four who come out of the woodwork, but at the moment, he's the most mature one.

"We've seen him do it under extreme pressure, you need to perform under pressure to win at the Crucible, I just think he's going to get stronger and stronger and it'll bring other players through.

"I'll be very surprised if he doesn't win at least one or two world titles... Ding has been the only one really and we've been waiting for another Chinese youngster."

Yan, who won his first ranking title at the Riga Masters in 2019, has yet to progress beyond the second round at the world championship. However, with the event starting on April 17, he will be one to watch in Sheffield.

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE