Down to four at the the International Championship in China, as today we saw the conclusion of the quarter-finals with victories for Mark Allen, Mark Williams, Ricky Walden and Robert Milkins.
Click below for a round-up of the action…
- Click here to view the scores and draw for the International Championship (snookerorg)
- Click here to view the latest projected seedings list
It is no secret within the snooker community that Ronnie O’Sullivan has proven to be something of a thorn in the side for two-times world champion Mark Williams for over a decade now, but today it was the Welshman who was able to come out on top in their quarter-final meeting at the International Championship and end his 12-year wait for a win against O’Sullivan.
Few would have predicted such an outcome after the first three frames of the match however, with Ronnie 3-0 up and seemingly with history on his side, before Mark was able to pull one back after the interval.
From there the match would turn however, runs of 120, 59 and 77 helping Williams to move one away from the place in the semi-finals at 5-3 and although O’Sullivan was to come back to force a decider, it was to be Williams’ day in Chengdu.
As well as being an important win for Mark in terms of being able to end his losing streak against the player that he readily describes as being the best in the world, the result also sees him back in the last four of a major ranking event and with a minimum of £30,000 earned this week, right back into contention for a place at the Masters in January, as you can see here at my ‘race to the Masters’ table.
Next up for him will be another left-handed Mark, as Mark Allen win five frames in a row from 3-1 down to see off Michael White and win his 22nd match of the season. As Mark told me during his recent interview here at PSB, he has really put in the hours on the practice table in recent months and is being rewarded with the consistent run of results that we have all known that he has been capable of.
Over in the other half of the draw, Robert Milkins continued his strong week with a deciding frame win against Marco Fu and will now be hoping to break his semi-final duck and make it through to the first ranking event final of his career. Like Williams, his run so far has also provided him with a significant boost in terms of his battle for a place at the Masters in January and he will be hoping to go even further now.
Hoping to stop him will be Ricky Walden, twice a ranking event winner in China of course, after he ended the run of Scotland’s Jamie Burnett today.
In respect of Ali Carter’s hopes of place at the Champion of Champions meanwhile, he will now be hoping that either Mark Allen or Ricky Walden will emerge with the winner’s trophy on Sunday, either result enough to ensure that Carter will hang on to claim the 16th and final spot in Coventry…