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The Chinese star made a triumphant return from a 20-month suspension to become his country's first-ever world champion, beating Mark Williams 18-12 in the final.

Zhao showed remarkable form in his first major long-format event since his ban, impressively knocking out Ronnie O'Sullivan in the semi-finals.

Despite having to battle through four qualifying rounds, playing a whopping 111 frames to even reach the main draw, Murphy has voiced strong opinions against the current setup.

Speaking to Sporting Life, he said: "I don't think it's ideal as it is.

I think it's totally weird.

"A tournament where I start in the fourth or fifth round against players who have four or five rounds behind me, I think it's weird.

We need events where players all start in the same round.

Shaun Murphy and Neil Robertson have spoken in light of Zhao Xintong's victory (Image: PA)Article continues below

"There is no other way to shoehorn those matches into a two-table venue like the Crucible so I don't see it changing, but I think it's a really weird system now."

Robertson joined the chorus of disapproval, suggesting that matches should be shorter and criticising the three-day span of semi-final matches, as per the Express.

He said: "The best out of 25 frames is a great match to play actually, I do like that, but I think first two rounds out of 19 and best out of 25 for the rest of the event.

It's straightforward, it shortens things, you are going to see a better standard of play.

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"You see a much better standard in the other events, like the Masters, in the World Championship it does drag on a bit.

You could easily do that.

"Because some of the rounds where it's the last 16 or even the semis, you are playing over three days, I mean that is a long slog."

Zhao Xintong won the title for the first time on Monday(Image: Getty)

When a player reaches the semi-finals, they have only played half of the frames necessary to win the title, despite beating three opponents already to get to the final four and single-table setup.

Hawkins echoed the sentiment that earlier rounds could be completed sooner, but hailed the World Championship as a special competition that separates the good from the great across multiple sessions.

He said: “It’s such a long, drawn out tournament.

There is nothing elsse like it.

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“Maybe the first couple of rounds, best of 19, maybe the second round doesn’t need to be best of 25.”

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