Yahoo Finance Williams: Rocket is still the world's best
MARK Williams had no complaints after his thumping Welsh Open semi-final defeat at the hands of Ronnie O’Sullivan and believes his old adversary remains the world’s best player, writes Paul Martin.
The Rocket was at his imperious best in the last four clash at Celtic Manor and strolled to a 6-1 win despite Williams taking the opening frame.
O’Sullivan will now play world No.81 Jordan Brown in Sunday’s final as he looks to collect a record-equalling fifth Welsh Open title and Williams admitted there was little he could have done to stem the tide.
“I don’t feel I’ve done that much wrong and I’ve been absolutely hammered 6-1,” he said.
“He just outplayed me in every department – safety, potting, everything. He was awesome.
“I started off well and was a little bit unlucky in the second frame but apart from that I barely got a sniff.
“Apart from the first frame, I wasn’t in the balls around the black spot once.
“Absolutely (he’s the best in the world). (Judd) Trump is a fantastic player but he can’t make the game look as easy as that. It was just ridiculous.”
It's @ronnieo147 who's through to the #WelshOpen final!
Beats Mark Williams 6-1 - and will face debutant Jordan Brown! pic.twitter.com/pzVYJK0jNw— Eurosport UK (@Eurosport_UK) February 20, 2021
Williams won 6-1 when the two players met at the same stage of this tournament in 1999 – the last time the Welshman won his home event – but the boot was firmly on the other foot this time around.
O’Sullivan responded to Williams’ opening 73 break with a century to level matters and cruised to his 56th ranking final with three half-century visits across the remaining five frames.
The world No.14 has little time to dwell on his defeat, with his run to the last four in Newport enough to book his place at next week’s Players Championship.
“I’ve scraped into that tournament, a massive bonus for me - £10,000 for turning up, which I didn’t have a couple of days ago,” he said.
“I just want to carry on playing the fluent stuff and going for my shots as I was here. I’m going to carry it on through my next few tournaments up until the World Championships.
“I just don’t want to play against him (O’Sullivan). He plays out of his skin every time I’ve played him, since he was 11 or 12.
“Maybe if I wasn’t around I might have won a few more tournaments.”
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