Williams books his place in the Championship League winners' group - 06/01/2011

WELSHMAN Mark Williams looked in tip-top form as he came through a superb final against Ronnie O’Sullivan to join Mark Selby as the second of the seven finalists in Championship League Snooker.

There were three centuries in the five frame final, two from O’Sullivan and one to Williams, an excellent 138 that saw him share the £500 top break prize with his opponent. Looking good going into next week’s Masters, Williams had topped the group stages with five wins from six starts.

Mark Williams

O’Sullivan, who missed a simple yellow in the closing stages of the final rack to give Williams a chance, will be back at the end of the month to compete in Group Three and will be looking to add to the £5,250 he has earned so far.
“I played quite well there with a few good breaks but the last two groups have been as tough as you can get in snooker,” said Williams.

“In the final I hit a 138 from nowhere and he made two centuries from nowhere. It’s excellent match practise and if you win it you get into the Premier League, one of the events everyone wants to get in.

“I’m delighted to have won and would much rather get through than have to come back for another group,” he added.

“I loved every minute of being in the Premier League last year and unfortunately I missed out on the semi-finals by one frame so I would love to get in it again.”

Earlier, O’Sullivan had beaten John Higgins 3-0 for the second time in three hours to secure his spot in the final. It was Higgins second successive semi-final defeat but he will be back in Group 3 and ups his take so far to £6,200.

Williams had despatched Shaun Murphy by a similar scoreline and Murphy will join Higgins in Group 3 complete with accumulative League earnings of £3,400.

Play continues with Group Three on Monday 24th January when Mark Allen, Peter Ebdon and defending champion Marco Fu will join the group.

Players earn £100 per frame won. The top four players after the remainder of the group matches tomorrow then play in best of five semi-finals. The money increases to £300 per frame won and the winner receives £3,000, the runner-up £2,000 and the beaten semi-finalists £1,000 each.

The winner then goes through to the final group on March 23rd & 24th where big money as well as a spot in the Sky Sports-televised Premier League Snooker is up for grabs. The two bottom players are eliminated from the competition, while the remaining four move forward to Group Three at the end of January to be joined by three new players.