Williams shows enduring class to edge past Wu

Halo World Championship

Venue: Crucible Theatre, Sheffield Dates: 19 April to 5 May

Three-time winner Mark Williams showed his enduring class to edge past China’s up-and-coming star Wu Yize 10-8 and reach the second round of the World Snooker Championship.

Having led 5-4 overnight, the Welshman compiled breaks of 101 and 69 to lead 7-6 but struggled to shake off his opponent in a nip-and-tuck encounter at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield.

Williams, 50, then fell 8-7 behind but played a wonderful snooker on the final red to gain the advantage in the 16th frame as he levelled the contest.

A valuable break of 58, which included several stunning shots, moved him within a frame of victory and he sealed his win with a composed run of 75.

The world number six will face Hossein Vafaei, who came through a final-frame decider to beat Barry Hawkins 10-9, while Chris Wakelin held off a stirring fightback from 2010 champion Neil Robertson to progress 10-8.

It was a superb performance from Williams in his 70th match at the sport’s most famous venue. Booked in for surgery in June, he has been dogged by eyesight issues in the build-up to the tournament and has been dismissive of his own prospects.

At varying stages he was outplayed by Wu, who scored 1,022 points to his 838 – but found an answer whenever he appeared to be in difficulty.

“It was a tough game all the way through. I think I was 3-0 up and then I didn’t pot a ball for three or four frames. Some of the balls he potted were incredible,” Williams told BBC Sport.

With reigning champion Kyren Wilson sent home on the first day by Lei Peifan, Wakelin and Vafaei’s successes on Sunday evening came at the expense of two more seeds.

The 33-year-old Englishman, who had never previously won a match at the Crucible, arrived with a 7-2 lead but spent the best part of five frames in his chair as Australia’s Robertson levelled the match at 7-7.

Wakelin responded with a 90 of his own and claimed two of the next three frames in a tense finale.

Iran’s Vafaei trailed throughout his match against Hawkins but grew stronger as the contest went on and enjoyed runs of 104, 107 and 110 as he repeatedly drew level.

However, he was also guilty of screaming out several times before securing the final frame as his emotions overcame him.

“In that moment my mind went negative. I had to let something go and let my animal come out again,” Vafaei told BBC Sport.

“That was a little trick to my mind. I told Barry it was nothing to do with him. I just couldn’t handle it. I was under lots of pressure. I was always down. I had to show some emotion to the fans they could feel the pressure. “

In the afternoon, world number eight Mark Allen was 3-0 behind against Fan Zhengyi of China but took five of the following six frames to hold a 5-4 lead into Monday’s second session.

Jak Jones is in danger of an early exit as China’s Zhao Xintong produced a sensational scoring display to lead 7-2 in their first-round match.

Jones, 31, made a surprise run to last year’s final, losing to Wilson.

The 16th seed from Wales knocked in a 99 break to take the third frame but was punished by the 2021 UK Championship winner for costly early misses.

Zhao made a 142 clearance in frame five – the highest break of the tournament so far – and six half-centuries in the first session.

Jones took the last frame with a break of 70, but Zhao will need just three more frames for victory when they resume on Monday.

Zhao, 28, is competing as an amateur but breezed through qualifying and is among the favourites to lift the trophy on 5 May.

He was one of 10 players banned in 2023 following an investigation into match-fixing.

He did not directly throw a match but was initially suspended for two and a half years, reduced to 20 months after his early admissions and guilty plea – he accepted charges of being a party to another player fixing two matches and betting on matches himself.

Zhao completed his suspension earlier this season and his performances on the Q Tour have earned him a spot back among the professional ranks for 2025-26.

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