Mark Williams is happy to be in another quarter-final and hopes to continue his decent form when he faces Jimmy Robertson in the German Masters on Friday evening. The Welsh left-hander is enjoying a decent season and has reached the last eight at the Tempodrom for the first time in six years. Williams came through 5-3 in his last-16 joust with Matthew Selt, who had dumped out Masters champ Mark Allen in the opening round. Breaks of 65 and 70 helped veteran Williams on his way to victory and he is content to be going well in Germany, a tournament at which he admits he has been poor recently.
“Another quarter-final, I’ve been in quite a few this season, so there’s another to top it off,” he told World Snooker. “It’s different this time as I’m playing better stuff. The last four or five years, I’ve not been playing that great. This time I’ve got a bit of confidence coming into it.” The two-time world champion won the German Masters in 2011 when he defeated Mark Selby in the decider. He claimed his sole ranking tournament success since, and the 19th of his career, when he overcame Yan Bingtao 9–8 in a tense Northern Ireland Open final in Belfast earlier this season.
Last month, Williams dumped world number one and world champion Selby out of the Dafabet Masters in London before underperforming in a defeat to Kyren Wilson and admits that below-par showings will creep in although he is happy with his overall form. “I’ve been going deep in almost every tournament I’ve played in this season. The Masters I played quite poorly against Kyren but I’m going to have bad matches. I had one [here] against Fergal [O’Brien] but managed to struggle through,” he added. “I know I’ll put bad performances in, that’s just what happens with age.” Williams is 7/2 to defeat Robertson 5-2 in their quarter-final on Friday.
German Masters odds available at Dafabet.