Williams powers into final
Mark Williams reached his third Powerhouse UK Championship final with a 9-3 demolition of world champion Peter Ebdon in York tonight.
The Welshman won the last six frames to storm through to a best of 19 frames meeting with Irishman Ken Doherty.
And Williams, the 1999 champion and 2000 runner-up, has reached the last day of the £615,000 event having dropped just 10 frames in his four matches.
“I thought I’d play well,” said a confident Williams.
“If you can’t get yourself up for playing the world champion of your sport then there’s something wrong.
“My confidence is coming back, I’m scoring better than I have been and my long potting was very good.
“That’s the part of my game that has been lacking for the last couple of years.”
Ebdon was attempting to become only the sixth player to win the world and UK titles in the same year.
His bid to emulate Steve Davis, Stephen Hendry, John Parrott, John Higgins and Ronnie O’Sullivan began with a 74 break in the first frame after an extended bout of safety.
Williams, who beat Stephen Hendry 9-2 in the quarter-finals, began the second frame with an initial 66 but ran out of position, giving Ebdon a chance to clear for 2-0.
However, the world number three failed to get on the brown and Williams eventually slotted it home with the rest to draw level at 1-1.
At 3-3 Ebdon went 52-0 ahead but Williams clawed his way back into the frame and drilled in a long green down the side cushion as he cleared up to edge 4-3 ahead.
Ebdon’s 54 seemed certain to tie the scores again but he ran out of position and Williams ended the frame by knocking in another long green and clearing to the black.
“Not many players would have taken those greens on,” said Williams, after making breaks of 102 and 74 during the evening session to wrap up victory.
“I’d probably make those once in 10 attempts but I’d rather lose a frame from a missed pot than a safety shot.”
Ebdon admitted that Williams had produced a top quality display to send him crashing out.
“I didn’t do too much wrong in the first session but Mark played exceptionally well,” he said.
“When someone plays that well there’s not much you can do about it. I fully expected to win the tournament but it didn’t happen.
“Good luck to Mark, the scoreline didn’t reflect how well I played during the match but that’s how snooker can be.
“Mark potted some great balls and fully deserved to win.”
The top prize in Sunday’s final is £84,500 but Williams will remain provisional world number one in the rankings whatever the result.
