Former winner spurred on by teenage son’s blunt remark

Mark Williams revealed how a blunt appraisal of his performance from his 13-yearold son Kian spurred him on to beat Stuart Bingham and book his place back in the World Championship quarter-finals yesterday.

The three-time former winner turned an 8-8 overnight tie into an impressive 13-11 win over his fellow former champion, taking him into the last eight at the Crucible for the ninth time where he awaits either Ronnie O’sullivan or Ding Junhui.

Williams said: “I walked in and the first thing he said was, ‘why are you so rubbish?’ I’m going to take him on the golf course this afternoon and give him an absolute pasting because of all the stick he’s been giving me.”

The 45-year-old Williams emphasised his newly-relaxed demeanour during the marathon tussle, laughing at himself after missing a simple black in frame 11 and tweeting about the “best of 5” showdown as the pair sat locked at 10-10 at the mid-session interval.

A break of 74 moved Williams two frames from victory before Bingham fought back with a 48 to make certain of another tight finish following Kurt Maflin’s famous victory over John Higgins the previous night.

But just as Maflin had ultimately pulled away to victory, Williams seized his second chance in the 23rd frame then avoided a decider with a break of 75, keeping alive his chances of emulating fellow Welshman Ray Reardon and winning the world title at the age of 45.

“I always really enjoy it and even though I was throwing frames away in the first session I was still enjoying it – it’s only a snooker match,” added Williams.

Mark Selby, another threetime champion, summoned a 124 clearance in the final-frame decider to see off Thai qualifier Noppon Saengkham, who had threatened to add to the growing casualty list of tournament seeds.

World No 89 Jamie Clarke continued his dream form by establishing a 6-2 overnight lead over fellow qualifier Anthony Mcgill.

In the late night game defending champion Judd Trump beat Yan Bingtao 13-11.

Mark Williams has reached the last eight for the ninth time.