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MARK Williams defied injury to book his place in the quarter finals of the Masters at Wembley with a 6-3 victory over Ali Carter.
Williams, who had sustained a neck injury after a car accident had a much more secure orthodox passage against the Tiptree professional, who, played his part in the first half of the match- but then fell to pieces in the second
The Welshman served notice of his intentions to get Carter by rolling in a break of 98 to claim the opening frame. Carter though is not easily overawed and swiftly got his cue arm going with a flurry of 26. Carter did not have to wait long for another chance as he forced Williams into trying to pot his way out of trouble with a risky dead weight red. As the ball wobbled in the jaws and stayed up Williams knew that the frame was over. And so it proved when Carter prodded in the red and cleared the table for 99.
Encouraged by this Ali dominated the third frame with an effort of 71 to lead 2-1. But Williams was in no mood to let Carter dictate the match and hammered in a the first century of the match with a break of 102 to level at 2-2 at the mid session interval.
Resuming it was Williams who won a scrappy frame five, where both players looked as if they were trying to re-capture the intensity of the first four frames as they both missed a few makeable pots. But it was Mark who was to pot the key balls in a run of 48 that put him 3-2 in front
Carter though replied quickly, when with the balls nicely split he dispatched a mid length red to the corner pocket and with only a few positional errors made, with comparitive ease a frame winning break of 98, faltering on the penultimate black.
Mark was clearly still struggling with his neck injury and it seemed to be affecting Ali too. As any sportsperson knows one of the hardest things to do is to continue to play your game and ignore any injury that your opponant may be struggling with. A lesson Ali was learning to his cost as he lost his concentration, missed numerous chances and it was Mark who claimed two scrappy frames to lead 5-3.
There was to be no respite for Carter as Williams played tight snooker despite making no sizeable breaks. Both players were feeding off the othert players scraps and it was Williams who held a 42-20 advantage as they came to the colours. Left an inviting yellow to the top corner pocket Carter powered it in- but couldn't do anything with the green other than play safe off it. Williams is more than equal in a bout of safety and finally forced the decisive error when Carter left the green over the top corner pocket. The Welshman made no mistake and just a few moments later added the brown to finally put Ali out of his misery and himself into the quarter finals.
Meanwhile Ronnie O'Sullivan and Neil Robertson served up a cracker of match earlier in the day as the Rocket recovered from 3-0 down to win 6-4.
O'Sullivan was 3-0 down to the Australian before he finally broke his duck with the help of a 114 break. Warming to his task Ronnie was on a roll, to the tune of four frames on the spin. He levelled at 3-3 with the help of an 87 break and then snatched the sixth on the colours.
Neil must have wondered what had hit him, but from somewhere he compiled a superb clearance of 140. O'Sullivan though was proving that his form was far from pants as he responded with a 106 of his own to lead 5-4. One up with two to play.
Could Neil force his way back into the match and take it into a final frame shoot out. The answer was a resounding no as O'Sullivan finished off the Australian with a break of 76 to book himself a quarter final place with Peter Ebdon.
Suzy Jardine
Williams, who had sustained a neck injury after a car accident had a much more secure orthodox passage against the Tiptree professional, who, played his part in the first half of the match- but then fell to pieces in the second
The Welshman served notice of his intentions to get Carter by rolling in a break of 98 to claim the opening frame. Carter though is not easily overawed and swiftly got his cue arm going with a flurry of 26. Carter did not have to wait long for another chance as he forced Williams into trying to pot his way out of trouble with a risky dead weight red. As the ball wobbled in the jaws and stayed up Williams knew that the frame was over. And so it proved when Carter prodded in the red and cleared the table for 99.
Encouraged by this Ali dominated the third frame with an effort of 71 to lead 2-1. But Williams was in no mood to let Carter dictate the match and hammered in a the first century of the match with a break of 102 to level at 2-2 at the mid session interval.
Resuming it was Williams who won a scrappy frame five, where both players looked as if they were trying to re-capture the intensity of the first four frames as they both missed a few makeable pots. But it was Mark who was to pot the key balls in a run of 48 that put him 3-2 in front
Carter though replied quickly, when with the balls nicely split he dispatched a mid length red to the corner pocket and with only a few positional errors made, with comparitive ease a frame winning break of 98, faltering on the penultimate black.
Mark was clearly still struggling with his neck injury and it seemed to be affecting Ali too. As any sportsperson knows one of the hardest things to do is to continue to play your game and ignore any injury that your opponant may be struggling with. A lesson Ali was learning to his cost as he lost his concentration, missed numerous chances and it was Mark who claimed two scrappy frames to lead 5-3.
There was to be no respite for Carter as Williams played tight snooker despite making no sizeable breaks. Both players were feeding off the othert players scraps and it was Williams who held a 42-20 advantage as they came to the colours. Left an inviting yellow to the top corner pocket Carter powered it in- but couldn't do anything with the green other than play safe off it. Williams is more than equal in a bout of safety and finally forced the decisive error when Carter left the green over the top corner pocket. The Welshman made no mistake and just a few moments later added the brown to finally put Ali out of his misery and himself into the quarter finals.
Meanwhile Ronnie O'Sullivan and Neil Robertson served up a cracker of match earlier in the day as the Rocket recovered from 3-0 down to win 6-4.
O'Sullivan was 3-0 down to the Australian before he finally broke his duck with the help of a 114 break. Warming to his task Ronnie was on a roll, to the tune of four frames on the spin. He levelled at 3-3 with the help of an 87 break and then snatched the sixth on the colours.
Neil must have wondered what had hit him, but from somewhere he compiled a superb clearance of 140. O'Sullivan though was proving that his form was far from pants as he responded with a 106 of his own to lead 5-4. One up with two to play.
Could Neil force his way back into the match and take it into a final frame shoot out. The answer was a resounding no as O'Sullivan finished off the Australian with a break of 76 to book himself a quarter final place with Peter Ebdon.
Suzy Jardine