Williams beats off home challenge in China
Mark Williams taught home hope Liang Wen Bo a snooker lesson by racing to victory at the China Open in Beijing.
Williams, who won the title the last time it was staged in Shanghai three years ago, needed only an hour to complete a 5-0 second-round victory over the inexperienced 17-year-old.
Liang had beaten former British Open champion Nigel Bond in the previous round but could not compete with Williams, who began the contest with back-to-back centuries of 101 and 117.
The Welshman, world champion in 2000 and 2003, won only one match from the season’s first six tournaments.
But he arrested his alarming decline by reaching the semi-finals of the Irish Masters in Dublin earlier this month, where he lost 9-5 to eventual champion Ronnie O’Sullivan.
Williams limited Liang to just 43 points in the match as he breezed through to a last-16 meeting with Telford’s Adrian Gunnell.
He followed up his two centuries with a run of 70 while Liang’s best effort was just 16.
“I’ve never seen him play but he’s obviously a good player to have beaten Nigel,” said Williams.
“I played quite well. Getting to the semi-finals of the Irish Masters gave me a lot of confidence. At the end of the day, I lost to Ronnie and he’s the best player in the world at the moment.”
Meanwhile Jimmy White booked his place in the last 16 by holding off Norwich professional Barry Pinches 5-3.
White, 42, won the fifth frame on a re-spotted black with the aid of a snooker and won the eighth on the yellow after Pinches had threatened a recovery.
A regular in tournaments and exhibitions in China and Hong Kong since the mid 1980s, White was again roared on by a huge army of fans.
“I’ve been coming to this part of the world for around 20 years and I’ve got lots of support here, which is great,” White said.
“The first-round match is so important in terms of the ranking points so hopefully I can relax a bit now.”
White faces the winner of the match between Paul Hunter and Ali Carter for a place in the quarter-finals.
John Higgins beat Tom Ford 5-1 earlier in the day, making a total clearance of 138 on the way to victory, while Ken Doherty defeated Australian Quinten Hann 5-2.
Doherty left the venue rueing an expensive mistake.
In the opening frame the Dubliner potted 15 reds and 14 blacks but, only seven shots short of his first maximum in tournament play – and a €30,000 bonus – he failed to sink a straightforward black off its spot.
“It’s the same old story, missing a black cost me,” said Doherty, who jawed the final black for a 147 and the keys to a sports car valued at £88,000 during his defeat by Matthew Stevens in the final of the 2000 Benson & Hedges Masters at Wembley.
“Not making the maximum was really disappointing but the most important thing was the win.”
Doherty now faces Stephen Lee, who whitewashed Habib Subah, Bahrain’s leading player, 5-0.
Hong Kong’s Marco Fu also reached the third round with an unconvincing 5-3 victory over Thailand’s Kobkit Palajin.
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