Three time World Champion Mark Williams has woken up today £150,000 richer thanks to his victory in the Champion of Champions.
An invitational event, the tournament contained sixteen of the biggest and most exciting names in the sport, but after a week of intense play it was Williams who was standing alone in the winners circle.
Edging out Guodong Xiao 10-6 in the final, Williams was able to offer the snooker world a timely reminder of why he is regarded as one of the best players to have ever played the sport.
Here is a recap of the main talking points from a brilliant week of snooker.
After Several Near Misses, Williams Finally Get His Hands on a Trophy
Ranked sixth in the world, Mark Williams is still playing brilliant snooker.
Having reached the final of the Saudi Arabia Masters when he lost a final frame thriller to world number one Judd Trump and the quarterfinal of the Northern Ireland Open where Kyren Wilson proved to be far too strong, Williams was finally able to piece a run of matches together and get his hands on a trophy that has eluded him so far in 2024.
Cueing it up this week as a man firmly flying under the radar, Williams’ week got off to a solid start when he defeated the highly promising Bai Yulu 4-1 in the opening frame.
Advancing to the quarterfinals he then had the tough task of trying to advance past one of the heavy favourites for the title and world number two, Kyren Wilson.
With Wilson having smashed him just a few weeks ago in Belfast, Williams showed that he was up for the fight this time around and was able to win a helter-skelter contest in a final frame thriller.
Having beaten Wilson, he headed into his semifinal contest against Neil Robertson hoping to advance through to yet another final. Riding high in confidence, the Welsh wizard quickly found himself in the lead and holding a 4-0 advantage.
Although the Aussie fought back to reduce the deficit to 5-2, the damage was done through the early stages of the contest and Williams wrapped up the victory and his place in the final 6-2.
In the final Williams would square off against one of World Snooker’s inform men, Guodong Xiao.
Despite Williams being the favourite, Xiao had enjoyed a tremendous tournament beating out Ronnie O’Sullivan, Mark Selby and Mark Allen, the recent Wuhan Open winner was flying both in form and confidence.
Despite the dangers that Xiao brought to the table, Williams once again got off to a hot start and he came flying out the traps, working his way into a 5-0 lead.
With ten frames needed for victory, many believed that Williams would canter to the line, but Xiao had other ideas.
Showing that he wouldn’t let the Welshman have things all his own way, the Chinese star came surging back and at the first interval and closed the final right up to 5-4 and everything was to play for.
Williams' head must have been spinning due to Xiao’s brilliant comeback, but he clearly used the interval to great effect. When play resumed, he won the next two frames to take the match to 7-4 before Xiao won the twelfth frame to close the contest to two frames.
With the pair splitting the thirteenth and fourteenth frames, Williams was just two frames from victory and held an 8-6 advantage.
The final was still in the balance but crucially it was the Welshman who was able to land the fifteenth frame. Now just one frame away from victory, Williams was able to get the job done at the first time of asking. Managing a break of 67, it was enough for the win and the £150,000 first place prize was his.
Williams victory came at the perfect time as next week the UK Championship will be quickly upon us.
One of snooker’s biggest titles, Williams has won the title twice but remarkably his last victory came back in 2002. Although he won’t start as the favourite, he will head into the tournament as one man that nobody will be keen on playing.
Snooker Big Guns Will Hope For a Resurgence at UK Championship
Mark Williams was able to take full advantage of some of snooker’s biggest names who simply failed to fire at the Champion of Champions tournament.
With a big prize on offer you could have been forgiven in thinking that Ronnie O’Sullivan would have been motivated to turn around his bad form, but the seven time World Champion form has suffered a real dip of late and once again he fell early when losing to Xiao Guodong.
There is concern for those on the World Snooker board that O’Sullivan’s time at the top of the game might be coming to an end.
O’Sullivan looks disinterested and unmotivated and his recent run of bad form is hugely worrying. O’Sullivan knows what it takes to win at the UK Championship having won the tournament on eight different occasions. The defending champion from last season, many will hope that a return to form will take place next week.
Other men looking to put the Champion of Champions behind them are the world number 1 Judd Trump and world number 2 Kyren Wilson.
The two of them have dominated the landscape of World Snooker for much of 2024 and both will be eyeing up a victory next week.
Trump will start as the top seed and favourite but will need to overcome his disappointment of falling to Neil Robertson in the quarterfinals.
If Wilson had beaten Williams in the quarterfinals of the Champions of Champions he would have had a good chance of winning the tournament overall. His narrow defeat would have stung but he will hope to use that experience to power himself to a maiden UK Championship title.
Andrew Blakely
At 35, Andrew Blakely stands as a seasoned expert in both snooker and its betting intricacies. A dedicated player and analyst, he offers keen insights derived from years in the field. Through his writings, Andrew aspires to guide enthusiasts navigating the captivating world of snooker betting.
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