I’m not in same class as Higgins or Ronnie.. My son said to me: ‘Why are you so crap these days?
But Williams shows there is still life in him yet at Crucible
MARK WilliAMS won a bruising battle of the former Crucible winners to make sure of a World Championship quarter-final berth.
And after securing a place in the business end of snooker’s premier tournament with a 13-11 victory over Stuart Bingham in Sheffield, the three-time world champion revealed his desire to join the greats of the game.
Arch-rival John Higgins has four world crowns – and Welshman Williams would love to go level with the successful Wishaw star.
He said: “It would be unbelievable to win a fourth world title.
“I’d only won it twice up to a couple of years ago and I thought I may not win it again.
“But I managed to scrape through and win a third one. I enjoyed that third victory.
“There’s a long way to go yet but I’m only one now behind John Higgins.
“Imagine if I did win it, it would be incredible.
“If you’d have asked me six months ago whether I could win this tournament I would have probably said no. “But I’m in the quarter-finals now and I’ve got as good a chance as anybody.” Williams burst on to the scene at the same time as Ronnie O’Sullivan and Higgins in a group dubbed the ‘Class of 92’. But he said: “I’ve always said that they are a class above me, so when I came through I was always behind them. I’m happy to have just nicked some tournaments off them but you can’t put me in a bracket with them.
“I was just happy to have come through at the same time really and done okay.”
With victory Williams became the oldest Crucible quarterfinalist for 10 years and, if he did go on to win a memorable fourth world crown, the popular 45-year-old would become the eldest winner of the event since countryman Ray Reardon back in 1978.
He said: “Ray was a bit before my time but I’ve met him a few times. You always look up to Welsh players like him.”
Williams and 2015 winner Bingham resumed locked at 8-8, but breaks of 67, 90, 74 and a match-clinching 75 under pressure did the trick.
The Welsh ace said: “My son said to me, ‘Why are you so crap these days?’. What can you do when someone says something like that to you? All you can do is laugh. He’s quite dry and likes taking the mickey, I’m not sure where he gets it from!”