Wales’ Mark Williams progressed into the semi-finals of the Players Championship after battling past Ryan Day. Day had been hoping to win three consecutive tournaments after a stunning few weeks for the 38-year-old. He won the Gibraltar Open at the start of the month before taking the Romanian Masters last weekend. Day beat Mark Selby during the opening round but met his match on Thursday as Williams continues his solid run of form.
Williams has already won the Northern Ireland Open and German Masters this season and is showing his best form since his last world title success in 2003. He won the first four frames with breaks of 124, 72, 96 and scored 317 points without reply at one point. Day recovered to make it 4-3 although Williams won the next two frames to secure a 6-3 victory.
Williams told World Snooker: “Ryan probably looked the stronger player at 4-3. Then I made a big break to go 5-3 up and that swung the game back in my favour. I have been playing like that more or less all season, potting long balls and making good breaks. “When I was 4-0 up at the interval, people were saying to me ‘well done’, as if I had won, but I knew Ryan would come back at me. He was 4-0 down in the final in Romania and still won. The only time I got a bit twitchy was towards the end when he was putting me in snookers. “I’m not bothered who I play next.
Hopefully Shaun Murphy will win 6-5 on the final black tomorrow then have to pull out with a bad back!” Murphy will take on Anthony McGill during Friday’s afternoon session and is the 3/5 favourite while McGill is priced at 13/10.