Mark Williams came through a late-night burner at the Crucible to book his place in his first World Championship final in 15 years.
The Welshman came back from 13-11 down going into the final session to beat Barry Hawkins 17-15 and set up a mouth-watering tournament finale against fellow all-time great John Higgins.
In a semi-final where quality was high and drama even greater, The Sportsman looks at the things learned….
Complete rejuvenation
Williams is in a period of real renaissance in the game.
It’s easy to forget that a year ago Mark didn’t even qualify to play at the Crucible. Fast forward to this season and he’s won two ranking events and now has a shot at a third world title.
Pundits and the media love to be nostalgic but there really is no doubting that Williams is back to his very best. He’s been playing well all season but the fact that he has produced the goods on the top and most difficult stage in snooker shows that this is not just a flash in the plan either. Williams is right back among the elite players in the game.
Playing with freedom
If you’d turned on the TV to watch this match without knowing, you may not have believed this was a World Championship semi-final. Williams has an ability to play the game as if it means nothing when in fact it means everything.
There were times in the contest where Williams just looked in exhibition mode. He was never afraid to attack and took on shots others would never dream of. This makes for great entertainment but is also quite unorthodox at times when the stakes are so high.
Aside from shot selection, Williams was also seen posting on Twitter just an hour before the final session and was even talking live on TV just seconds before being introduced into the arena. It really does genuinely look as though Williams has got to the stage of his career where he is just enjoying himself out there.
Here he is in his first world final since 2003 and it looks as though his laid-back attitude is really paying dividends.
A difficult hurdle to overcome
A lot has been made during this tournament of how good Hawkins’ record is here at the Crucible having made the one-tale setup in five of the last six years.
But his defeat to Williams make it four semi-final defeats in four efforts since he last reached the final in 2013. This is a conversion rate he will not be happy with and with a good chance missed last night, it begs the question of whether he will ever be world champion.
Strength of character
There’s more to life than just hitting balls on a snooker table. A year ago Hawkins was hit with the tragic news of his brother-in-law committing suicide. Unsurprisingly, this impacted his form on the table in the early part of this season.
