Williams beats China’s Ding

Mark Williams fights back from being 2-0 down to overcome China’s Ding Junhui 3-2.

Mark Williams fought back from being 2-0 down to overcome China’s Ding Junhui 3-2 to reach the semi-final of the World Open underway in Glasgow. The Welshman, who lost the first two frames after the world number four Ding hit breaks of 81 and 45, became the first player in the tournament to win from that position.  A break of 40 in the third frame followed by clinching the fourth, meant Williams was still in contention as the match went into the decider. After leading 49-0 in the fifth frame, Ding missed on the green and it was enough for the world number eight to seal the nail-biting win.

Meanwhile, in another quarter-final world number 17 Peter Ebdon beat fellow Englishman Martin Gould 3-1.

Earlier, in the fifth round world champion Neil Robertson beat England’s Andrew Higginson 3-2 in a tough battle. The Australian, who is also the world number three, was almost facing elimination before he pulled back the confident Higginson.

However, the tournament’s most high profile match saw Ronnie O’Sullivan edging out seven-time world champion Stephen Hendry in a rather one-sided contest 3-1. O’Sullivan, also known as The Rocket, progressed to the quarter-final through a break of 93 in the first frame before the Scot hit back with 95. The third frame some lose shots but world number six and England’s O’Sullivan kept his cool to advance.

O’Sullivan admitted his play was careless and said, “Stephen of old would have trounced me. In his prime he would have won the third, fourth and the fifth frame.”

Published in The Express Tribune, September 26^th, 2010.