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Ssb - the mark of a champion
I doubt Mark Williams will get carried away by winning the Rotterdam Open but it marks a welcome return for him to snooker’s winners’ circle.
It wasn’t just winning which will give him pleasure but the manner of the victory. He played ultra attacking snooker to edge Mark Selby 4-3.
Selby often has the knack of forcing his opponents to play his way. Last night the opposite happened: the more Williams attacked, the more Selby did.
This proved to be a good tactic for the Welshman, whose potting was superb. It gives him his first title since he beat Selby 9-7 in the 2011 German Masters final.
Despite the win, Williams is placed 17th in the world rankings and so will have to qualify for the Shanghai Masters, although the new flat draw system renders his position largely irrelevant outside of the Masters and World Championship, and there is time to get back into the top 16 before them.
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: you write off the true greats at your peril.
Williams has seen his two great contemporaries – Ronnie O’Sullivan and John Higgins – lift silverware this year and has now got some of his own.
I pondered his very predicament last month and he already has a trophy under his belt as well as an injection of confidence so early in the season.
The players seemed to enjoy Rotterdam. These events don’t just magically happen, they are down to hard work so well done to all involved.
This includes the referee, Jan Verhaas, who was rightly honoured for two decades service by the Dutch Billiards Federation in a presentation before the final.
I understand the event will be on for at least another two years but the plan next year is to move it to a later date as the middle of July is hardly snooker time.
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It wasn’t just winning which will give him pleasure but the manner of the victory. He played ultra attacking snooker to edge Mark Selby 4-3.
Selby often has the knack of forcing his opponents to play his way. Last night the opposite happened: the more Williams attacked, the more Selby did.
This proved to be a good tactic for the Welshman, whose potting was superb. It gives him his first title since he beat Selby 9-7 in the 2011 German Masters final.
Despite the win, Williams is placed 17th in the world rankings and so will have to qualify for the Shanghai Masters, although the new flat draw system renders his position largely irrelevant outside of the Masters and World Championship, and there is time to get back into the top 16 before them.
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: you write off the true greats at your peril.
Williams has seen his two great contemporaries – Ronnie O’Sullivan and John Higgins – lift silverware this year and has now got some of his own.
I pondered his very predicament last month and he already has a trophy under his belt as well as an injection of confidence so early in the season.
The players seemed to enjoy Rotterdam. These events don’t just magically happen, they are down to hard work so well done to all involved.
This includes the referee, Jan Verhaas, who was rightly honoured for two decades service by the Dutch Billiards Federation in a presentation before the final.
I understand the event will be on for at least another two years but the plan next year is to move it to a later date as the middle of July is hardly snooker time.
More...
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