Mark Williams held off a superb fightback from fellow former winner John Higgins to triumph in a last-frame decider and reach his eighth World Championship semi-final at the Crucible.
The veteran duo, who have won seven world titles between them, were locked at 8-8 at the end of their second session before Williams put himself on the verge by taking all four frames on Wednesday’s resumption.
Higgins, four-times the champion, though, dug in following the mid-session interval with breaks of 94, 114 and 67 to force a decider, which Williams took after his opponent missed a tense blue on the top cushion to seal a 13-12 victory.
O’Sullivan opens up lead over Si in World Snooker Championship quarter
Williams, who had trailed 5-1 earlier in the match, made the most of some unforced errors from Higgins to edge in front and then extend his lead to 10-8. A couple of half-century breaks from the Welshman, who claimed the last of his three world titles in 2018, meant he was seemingly closing in on victory at 12-8 heading into the interval.
However, Higgins clawed a frame back before firing in 94 to move within two. Williams then gave away a careless foul after touching the blue with his trailing arm when he was leaning over to pot a long red with the rest.
Higgins made the most of the opportunity, digging in again to build a fine 114 break. The Scot missed a frame-ball red along the bottom cushion after a break of 67 in the next but was still able to force a final-frame shootout.
With both men running out of position when looking set, the deciding frame turned into a safety battle before Higgins caught the bump on the middle pocket, which allowed Williams in to edge in front 56-52.
Higgins sunk a red with the rest after Williams missed a tricky long red, then rolled the brown in on the top cushion only to miss the blue. Williams clipped it in before finishing off the pink and black to seal a dramatic 74-69 victory.
Williams told the BBC: “I was drained this morning. Two tough sessions, I didn’t finish until half 10. It’s top out there, especially the older you get. You play all day, the next day you play in the morning. It’s just a pleasure playing now. We got the standing ovation walking in and everyone was cheering. You have to enjoy it because you don’t know how many times I’ll be coming back here.”
Ronnie O’Sullivan held off a fightback from Si Jiahui to lead 10-6.
Ronnie O’Sullivan held off a fightback from Si Jiahui to lead 10-6. Photograph: VCG/Getty Images
Ronnie O’Sullivan held off a fightback from Si Jiahui to lead 10-6 heading into Wednesday night’s final session. The seven-time champion extended his overnight advantage to 7-2 when he took the opening frame of the morning, capitalising after Si had missed a straightforward pink off the spot.
Si, a semi-finalist on his Crucible debut two years ago, then crafted a break of 101 before a fluked cannon red into the bottom corner helped set O’Sullivan on his way to a run of 75 to take the 11th frame in one visit.
Si reduced the deficit again heading into the mid-session interval, but O’Sullivan pinched the first frame back after his opponent missed a frame-ball red, getting a couple of snookers before clearing the colours.
Si rattled off consecutive half-centuries to get back to 9-6, but O’Sullivan capitalised on another unforced error from Si when missing the brown to come from behind and take the final frame of the session with a 64 break.
Zhao Xintong duly picked up the one frame he required to turn a 12-4 overnight advantage over Chris Wakelin into a 13-5 victory that sealed his place in the semi-finals for the first time. Zhao, playing as an amateur after returning from a 20-month ban for his part in a match-fixing scandal, had to come through four rounds of qualifying to reach the final stages at the Crucible and has had little trouble in reaching the last four, where he will play O’Sullivan or Si.
