Mark Williams closer to his number one spot after beating Anthony Hamilton – Snooker news
The world number 2, Mark J Williams, has cruised to the quarter-finals after whitewashing Anthony Hamilton by a frame score of 4-0 in a best-of-seven match of the 2011 Players Tour Championship held at Helix, Dublin, Ireland.
The Welsh Potting Machine hardly took 50 minutes to wrap up one of the best matches played on the day by producing marvellous century breaks of 111 and 143.
Williams started off in a straight-forward fashion by producing an outclass century break of 111 in the first frame. The world number 41, Hamilton, got his chances in the next two frames but he failed to clinch any, breaking down on 6 and 37 respectively.
The fourth frame was over within a blink of an eye as the tournament’s favourite, Williams, slotted mind-boggling tournament’s highest century break of 143 in it to finish off with style.
Anthony Hamilton after failing to qualify for the 2011 world championship admitted the fact that he would be surprised if he beats Williams, as he is one of the favourite Welsh contestants in the Crucible. However, he was even embarrassed when his highest
break of 133 was beaten in the last frame.
Williams said afterwards that he played okay as he never makes many centuries but to produce two in a best-of-seven match is an achievement.
He said he would be on the moon if he gets back the number one spot for the third time.
John Higgins, who currently is the world number one, would be left behind if Williams wins the title.
“I'm not 100 per cent of the points but apparently I'm in front of John Higgins with the points from this and if I win this then he can't catch me,” said Williams.
He discussed his thoughts when he was at the 47th position two-and-a-half years back. He said he had thought his career has ended as he was losing every match on the trot but now being the world’s number two, he has chances to get to the top as
well.
Williams has now set up a clash with either Mark Selby or Andrew Higginson in the quarter-final. This is definitely going to be a promising match.
The other players who have made to the quarter-finals include two-time former world championship finalist Matthew Stevens and former 2005 world champion Shaun Murphy who have beaten Dominic Dale and Ricky Walden with a frame score of 4-1 and 4-2 respectively.
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