The Hindu : Williams ousted

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, May 01, 2002

Sport

Sport - Billiards & Snooker

Williams ousted

SHEFFIELD April 30 . World number one Mark Williams crashed out of the World Championship losing 13-9 in the second round to Anthony Hamilton of England. Williams, who was 9-7 down when play resumed on Monday, went further behind when Hamilton won the opening frame of the session.

After losing back-to-back frames to make it 12-9, Hamilton sealed victory with a break of 70 in the 22nd frame. Hamilton, who had to qualify for the tournament, admitted that he was relieved in the end to have won.

``Mark's the sort of player you don't want when you've got a big lead because he starts to open his shoulders a bit and he actually started to cue quite well at the end,'' said Hamilton. ``In my opinion I should have won the match 13-5 but Mark came out with some great pots and put the pressure on me a little bit.''

Hamilton, a quarterfinalist in this event two years ago, faces England's Peter Ebdon in the last eight.

Williams, winner of the title in 2000, said he was feeling ``sick'' with the way he performed. ``I seem to play like that fairly regularly and just can't seem to get any form going at all,'' said the Welshman. Earlier, John Higgins and Stephen Lee both eased into the quarterfinals with a session to spare. Higgins beat fellow Scot Graeme Dott 13-2, while Lee enjoyed a 13-3 win over Australian qualifier Quinten Hann.

A shell-shocked Dott tipped Higgins to battle it out with Ronnie O'Sullivan for the title.``I think there's only really one man who has a chance of beating him and that's Ronnie,'' he said. ``It's really a two-horse race and it's hard to even see Ronnie stopping him.''

Dott said Higgins's performance was the best exhibition of snooker he had ever witnessed. ``I've never seen anybody play as well as that,'' he added. ``It was absolutely incredible. I never got the chance to put him under any pressure. I just cannot compete with that, it was like playing a machine.''

Higgins, who now faces a quarterfinal clash with Matthew Stevens, said he hoped he had not peaked too early following a highly impressive start to the tournament. ``It happened here a couple of years ago when I blew everyone away up until the semifinals and then Mark Williams blew me away,'' he said.

Meanwhile on Sunday, seven-time champion Stephen Hendry eased into the quarterfinals with a comfortable 13-3 win over Welshman Anthony Davies.

The Scotsman's reward is a match against Ireland's Ken Doherty in what will be a repeat of the 1997 final in which Hendry was beaten 18-12. Davies, who beat Hendry in the British Open earlier this season, was no match for the Scots star recording a highest break of just 40.

In contrast, Hendry racked up one century and eight half century breaks to complete his victory with one session to spare. — Reuters

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