Mark Williams will end the year at the head of the provisional world rankings if he reaches the semi-finals of the £305,000 China Open at Shanghai's JC Mandarin Hotel tonight. The 24-year-old from Ebbw Vale, winner of the Liverpool Victoria UK Championship last month, is guaranteed to go into the new century occupying top spot, regardless of other results, if he gets the better of Stephen Lee. Stephen Hendry, also in the quarterfinals of the tournament, is in second place but mathematically unable to catch Williams.
Williams is not getting carried away however, he commented; “Of course it would be great to finish the year in poll position but what I really want is to be the official world number one. That is the ambition of virtually every player but to do that you have got to have more points at the end of the season, after the world championship, than anyone else. So far we are not even half way through the season.”
Williams, who took only 46 minutes to crush Paul Hunter 5-0 in the previous round, is understandably full of confidence after losing only two of his last 17 matches in ranking tournaments. Williams, Ronnie O'Sullivan and Hendry, who overcame jet-lag and sickness to beat Matthew Stevens 5-2 in the last 16, are the obvious favourites to collect the £50,000 first prize on Sunday.
The quarterfinals also feature three lesser-known players, Joe Perry, Peter Lines and Paul Sweeny, who have never progressed so far in a major competition before. Perry, the world number 34 from Wisbech, tackles Hendry in the last eight and Sweeny, a law student at Greenwich University, provides the opposition for O'Sullivan. Sweeny is a part-time pub barman in Bexleyheath, and has missed the last two weeks of term to make the trip. Regardless of the outcome against O'Sullivan tomorrow he is already sure to pocket £7,250 - the biggest cheque of his six year pro-career.
