Williams: No complaints, the better man won

MARK WILLIAMS was left with no complaints after an incredible Mark Selby performance saw him beaten with a session to spare at the Betfred World Snooker Championships.

Both Williams and Selby have won three world titles but looked a class apart in Sheffield’s Crucible Theatre as the Englishman romped to a 13-3 win, with nine frames not being played in their highly-anticipated quarter-final.

That was despite Williams, champion in 2000, 2003 and 2018, doing very little wrong in the match.

Ten breaks greater than 50 underpinned Selby’s dominance, with the Welshman indicating he wasn’t disappointed with the match despite the heaviness of the scoreline.

“I got outplayed in every department. I have no problems holding my hand up and saying ‘well played,’” he said.

“He played so solid, he didn’t really let me in the match and I couldn’t get involved in it. I have no problems with that.

“I was a little bit unlucky not to get out of that first session at 5-3 down. There were a couple of times I went into the reds and didn’t get on anything, and that was about all I did.”

A century break from Williams saw him end the first session in style, but at 6-2 down against one of the toughest opponents in the game, getting back into the match was always going to be a struggle.

The Cwm cueman needed Selby’s performance to drop and it simply didn’t, with breaks of 96, 58 and 66 helping him win the first four frames of yesterday’s second session.

Williams won the first after the mid-session interval but three more from the Jester from Leicester wrapped up the match without having to return for an evening session.

Williams added: “At 10-2 the match was dead. That was me finished. I tried, but the last thing I wanted to do was come back tonight at 12-4 knowing that I couldn’t win.

“I’m not disappointed. The worst thing you can do is lose 13-0. I lost 13-3 and that’s not far off. You’ve just got to hold your hand up when someone plays like that against you.”

So with Selby playing some unmatchable snooker, has Williams just lost to the man who will be crowned 2021 world champion?

“Forget about Judd Trump or Neil Robertson or Kyren Wilson. If all the players are playing well, Mark Selby is a different class to the lot of them,” he added.

“He played some outstanding stuff and I couldn’t compete with that, not many really can.” ■ Watch the World Snooker Championship live on Eurosport and Eurosport app from April 17- May 3