Mark Williams reached the final of the Benson and Hedges Masters at Wembley last night after he narrowly defeated fans' favourite Jimmy White 6-5. The victory was far from a formality for Williams with White’s refusal to buckle when behind raising hopes of another memorable comeback after his stunning revival in his quarter-final win over Ronnie O’Sullivan.
5-2 down and with Williams needing just one more to clinch a final spot, White upped his game and clawed his way back to force a decider after some vintage snooker. Sadly for the Whirlwind, however, an undercut red in the final frame allowed Williams back to the table and a break of 34 was enough to leave White needing snookers.
“I thought it was in,” said White of the final frame undercut red. “I should have just hit it a little harder. I was so excited about beating Ronnie that I couldn’t get to sleep until five o’clock this morning. I tried to stay in bed all day but I didn’t feel my best before the start. But that’s not making any excuses. Mark is a good all round player, he wouldn’t be world number one if he wasn’t,” added the ever-gracious 39-year-old.
Welshman Williams will now play defending champion Paul Hunter in the final later today, a clash in which he’s hoping to improve his all-round game: “Hopefully I can put up a better performance than I have done in some of my finals. I could have won 6-3 tonight but Jimmy came back really well and didn’t give me many chances. There was pressure on both of us in that last frame and I thought he could have won the match,” he said.
Filed by Tom Grealis
