Mark Williams believes he will take some beating if he can maintain his current level of form after eliminating world number one Mark Selby in the first round of the Dafabet Masters. Williams, who won the Northern Ireland Open and the Six-red World Championship last year, managed to snatch a thrilling contest in the opening match at London’s Alexandra Palace.
The Welshman, who lost in this stage of last year’s tournament to the same opponent, rattled off superb breaks of 135 and 89 to open up an early 2-0 lead. Selby sprang into action and won five of the next six frames, making breaks of 70, 70 and 76, and appeared to have victory in sight after moving to within one frame of victory. However, Williams was in no mood to roll over and he won the final three frames to clinch a superb 6-5 victory, booking his place in the quarter-final stage of the event.
The 42-year-old, who will play either Barry Hawkins or Kyren Wilson in the next round, was delighted with his performance and is feeling confident for the rest of the tournament as he eyes the £200,000 prize pot. “I’m over the moon,” Williams said. “I’m playing a hell of a lot better than I’ve done for many years. If I can keep playing like that then someone’s going to have to play well [to beat me].” Williams is priced at 7/1 to win the Dafabet Masters for the first time since 2003 whilst defending champion Ronnie O’Sullivan, who takes on Marco Fu on Tuesday, is the firm 7/4 favourite.
Dafabet Masters odds available at Dafabet.