Drama comes as second nature to Mark Williams when he’s playing at The Masters and his scintillating 6-5 defeat of world number one Mark Selby was a fitting curtain-raiser to this year’s event.
If you trawl through the archive of snooker’s most prestigious invitational event, you’ll struggle to find a more exciting conclusion to a final than when the Welshman beat Stephen Hendry in 1998 with the contest going right until the final re-spotted black.
This is just the standout of many dramatic moments Williams has been part of in this iconic event and his late fightback to beat Selby 6-5 from 5-3 down will merely add to his collection.
Williams was always going to be a tricky opener for the highly fancied Selby. He’s been playing exceptional snooker in recent months highlighted by his capture of his 19th ranking title at the Northern Ireland Open.
When he took the opening two frames to lead 2-0, it was clear Selby had a fight on his hands but that’s not something he usually shies away from and he didn’t again here winning five of the next six frames to assert his authority.
Williams hit three frames in a row though to give this entertaining tournament opener a final twist and send home Selby who will now be left to dwell on back-to-back early exits in the sport’s major events.
This will be a sweet moment for the two-time winner Williams who lost 6-5 to Selby in the opening round a year ago and lost by the same scoreline to Ronnie O’Sullivan the year before that – so may have been growing tired of ending up on the wrong side of a deciding-frame defeat at Alexandra Palace.
In fact, this is a first win at The Masters for Williams since he reached the quarter-finals in 2013 courtesy of a 6-4 win against fellow Welshman Matthew Stevens.
Williams has never been the kind of player to get too hung up on his record at specific events and even whether he wins or loses, but now into his 40s there will most definitely be a part of him that relishes playing on the big stage because he doesn’t know for how much longer he will be doing it.
This victory is a big one as it comes against the sport’s runaway leader at the top of the rankings and will make him feel like he’s really in the event now awaiting the winner of Barry Hawkins and Kyren Wilson next.
