Cueing up for the snooker world championship- Mark Williams
Bettor.com profiles the main players and outsiders for this year’s world championship
Mark Williams is a player who has returned to his best form this season. He recently won the China Open, and that victory ended a painful four years without a ranking title. He is a holder of 17 ranking events, and is fifth in the all-time list.
Williams is no slouch when it comes to competing with the top players in the world. Although he may not have been at his best over the past four years, he knew that he would return and be a threat again, and that is what he has done this season. Someone who has won as many ranking events as he has certainly has the experience at least to mount a challenge for The Crucible crown.
Williams has encountered a difficult four seasons. He struggled to produce when needed, and beginning a family took his thoughts away from the snooker table. He admitted that his mind had been elsewhere when his first child was born in 2004. The class of Williams was starting to disappear, and even he thought he did not have the capabilities of challenging for honours again.
The Welshman made threats about quitting snooker if he lost his place in the top 32 last season. Having dropped out of the top 16, he had to enter the qualifying rounds to get into the finals of the tournaments. Talk of quitting seems to have galvanised Williams, as this season he has been a threat at most of the events, and gained enough ranking points to reclaim his place back in the elite 16.
Before the China Open victory, he had a good run at the Welsh Open, reaching the quarter-finals. At The Masters, he also reached the semi-finals, but lost to Ronnie O’Sullivan and he also reached the semi-finals at the Grand Prix, losing to Ding Junhui.
This season we have witnessed vintage Williams. He has played quick and smooth snooker. His style is very relaxed, and he always floats the balls into the pockets, conveying his coolness and composure on the table. Seeing a relaxed Williams playing is not a sight that an opponent will want to see. He can reel off many frames in quick time, and has many years of experience to help him cross the finishing line.
Williams will be a dangerous opponent at this year’s world championship. He knows how to win here, having done so in 2000 and 2003. To date, Williams is the only left-handed player to win the world championship, although there could be some debate if the ambidextrous O’Sullivan wins it this year.
The Welshman will be looking to join the likes of John Higgins and O’Sullivan on three world crowns. Certainly winning the China Open has given him good form coming into Sheffield. Williams is playing well enough to reach the latter stages of the tournament, and stands a decent chance of getting his third world title.
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