World number 15 Mark Williams will be hoping to end his long wait for a ranking title when he takes on Mark Joyce on Sunday in the Riga Masters. Williams is the only top 16 competitor left in the tournament after he beat Luca Brecel and Robbie Williams on day two of the tournament at the Arena Riga. The 42-year-old’s last win came in 2014 at the World Seniors Championship but his last ranking success came back in 2011. He won the German Masters that year but he has since continued to go close on occasions. The Welshman reached the quarter-finals of the World Championship in 2015, while he also reached the same stage at the Northern Ireland Open, UK Championship and Gibraltar Open. A number of semi-final appearances have also come to nothing but he will be confident of beating Joyce. He has never lost to Joyce in his career and is 4/9 to win, with Joyce priced at 13/8.
Joyce comes into the win on the back of victories over Nigel Bond and Sam Baird. Ryan Day will look to win his maiden ranking event this weekend but he must get past Joe Perry on Sunday. Day has had to endure a tough run so far but he has overcome Barry Hawkins, Robert Milkins and Kyren Wilson. He has only met Perry on four occasions and both players have won two contests each. They are both priced at 17/20 to win and they’ll be confident of winning the event after Neil Robertson was knocked out. The defending champion lost 4-3 to Lukas Kleckers and his defeat has blown the tournament wide open.