Mark Williams versus Ryan Day – 2011 Betfred.com World Snooker Championship Preview
Mark Williams and Ryan Day are set to meet in the first round of the 2011 Betfred.com World Snooker Championship, which is going to be staged from 16 April to 3 May, at the Crucible Theatre Sheffield, England.
This match is going to be one of the toughest matches of the first round. It’s an All-Welsh battle and a battle not to be missed, as the Welsh Potting Machine, Mark Williams, will take on the Welsh Dynamite, Ryan Day, in the most prestigious event of snooker.
Both players are very close friends off the table. They have faced each other in professional tournaments four times and have shared two wins each.
Their first meeting was in 2002-03, at the Tredegar Pro-Am and it was Williams who whitewashed Day by a frame score of 4-0. The second and third time was at the last-16 stage of the 2006 Northern Ireland Trophy and quarter-final of China Open two years ago.
Both these meeting went in the favour of Day. However their final meeting, which came during the Championship League, gave success to Williams. So both players are levelled by 2-2 in their overall record.
As far as their Crucible history is concerned the world number two, Williams, lead. He has played at the home of snooker every year since 1997. This is going to be his 15thappearance at the Crucible. Williams also has lifted the world championship
title twice, in 2000 and 2003. Moreover, he was also a runner-up in the 1999 world championship, which he lost to Stephen Hendry by a frame score of 18-11.
Meanwhile the world number twenty, Ryan Day, has participated six times before and this is going to be his seventh appearance at the theatre. Moreover, his credentials are not even near those of his opponent, as he has only made it to the quarter-final of
the 2008 and 2009 world championship.
Williams also has had a perfect season this year. He started off with a win at the PTC1 event in Sheffield. Though he didn’t add another title, he played consistent to finish in the top eight of the Order of Merit and secured a place in the PTC Grand Finals.
Williams lost in the Shanghai Masters to Graeme Dott in the last-16 but he made it through to the semi-finals in the following World Open before losing out to Neil Robertson. Another strong performance came during the UK Championship where he lost his battle
to John Higgins in the final.
However, he instead of losing hopes bounced back in the German Masters and registered a win in his first full ranking event’s final. He also was the quarter-finalist during the Welsh Open but surprisingly he lost to Stephen Lee in the first round of the
China Open, despite producing four brilliant century breaks.
For the 31-year-old Day it has been a poor season. He suffered defeats to lower-ranked players during the PTC event, Shanghai Masters and World Open tournaments. He was about to be put out of the top-16 as well before he managed a few wins during the PTC
event and the qualifying rounds of UK Championship. He overall has qualified for four ranking events this season including the world championship. His notable performance was the clobbering of Ronnie O’Sullivan twice, one at the Welsh Open and second at the
China Open.
Keeping all the statistics in mind, arguably it can be said that Mark Williams is going to be fancied for the match. However he will have to produce a high standard game, as Day also has the capability of going all the way.
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