Mark J. Williams

Mark Williams
birthday	21st March 1975 (age 45)
place of birth	Cwm , near Ebbw Vale
nationality	Wales
Nickname (s)	The Welsh Potting Machine
professional	since 1992
Prize money	£ 6,452,114 (as of August 27, 2020)
Highest break	147 (2 ×)
Century Breaks	487 (as of August 27, 2020)
Main tour successes
World championships	3
Ranking tournament victories	22nd
Minor tournament victories	2
World rankings
Highest WRL place	1 ( 00/01 - 01/02 , 03/04 , May – Sep. 2011)
Current WRL location	10 (as of August 17, 2020)

Mark James Williams , MBE (born March 21, 1975 in Cwm , near Ebbw Vale , Blaenau Gwent ) is a Welsh snooker player . Williams has been a professional player since 1992 and won his third world championship title in 2018. He is also a member of the Triple Crown .

Career

Early years

Before his snooker career, Williams was an amateur boxer. As early as 1991 he took part in the junior competition of the World Masters , where he made it to the finals. There he met the Scot John Higgins , who won the final with 1: 6.

First professional years

Two years after opening the professional tour, Williams became a professional player for the 1992/93 season. With him came the eventual world champions John Higgins and Ronnie O'Sullivan on the tour, which is often discussed.

Without a world ranking, Williams had to fight his way through all qualifying rounds, which, for example, at the first tournament of the season - the Dubai Classic - was nine rounds, in which Williams participated from the start, defeating two-time world champion Alex Higgins , among others . In the very last qualifying round, he then failed to Jason Ferguson . After an early loss at the Grand Prix , he reached the round of 128 at the minor ranking tournament Benson & Hedges Championship. At the UK Championship he then reached a main round for the first time, in which he met World Champion Stephen Hendry . Due to a defect in the scoring system, not all frame results are known, but Williams only lost in the last possible frame . He was also successful at the events of the Strachan Challenge - which consisted of three minor ranking events - once he reached the round of 32 and again the round of 64. However, he achieved his best result at the European Open when he defeated Jim Donnelly , Murdo MacLeod and Jonathan Birch in qualifying . In the main round, he then wins over James Wattana and David Roe , before failing in the round of 16 to Mark Johnston-Allen . At the British Open and the International Open , he reached two more main rounds, but where he was eliminated directly. Despite two initial defeats in the qualifications for the Welsh Open and for the World Snooker Championship , he placed 119th for the coming season, three places better than John Higgins. He also saved himself the numerous qualifying rounds, in the next season he started in rounds five to seven, depending on the ranking tournament.

After an opening defeat at the start of the next season , Williams reached the round of 32 at the Grand Prix , in which he was defeated by Alan McManus from Scots . He also made it into the same group at the European Open , this time losing to his compatriot Darren Morgan . After a defeat to Ronnie O'Sullivan in the final qualifying round of the Welsh Open and two early defeats, he moved back into a final qualifying round at the Thailand Open , where he failed at the Englishman Peter Ebdon . He was also successful at the second event of the Strachan Challenge when he made it to the quarter-finals with victories over Silvino Francisco and Rod Lawler, among others , but where he failed against Troy Shaw from England . At the British Open he then reached the main round again, in which he was directly defeated by the Englishman Willie Thorne . At the end of the season Williams lost after two victories over Gary Lees and Yasin Merchant in World Cup qualification against the Scot Billy Snaddon . On the world rankings he managed to improve by 61 places to 58th place, whereby he started in the next season in world rankings tournaments in the round of the last 96 in the tournament.

First successes

After another opening defeat at the start of the 1994/95 season , Williams reached the Grand Prix by a 5-1 win over Paul Cavney the main round, in which Dean Reynolds was defeated with the same result . At the non-ranking tournament Benson & Hedges Championship he fought his way to the semi-finals with victories over, among others, Dominic Dale and Mark Davis , where he defeated the Scot Jamie Burnett in the decider . So he was in his first professional tournament final, even if the world's best did not take part in the tournament. His first final meant for Williams at the same time his first professional title, he defeated the Englishman Rod Lawler with 9: 5. In the subsequent UK Championship , he moved into the round of 16 with wins over Doug Mountjoy and Tony Drago , but where he failed to ex-world champion John Parrott . After another initial defeat, he reached the second round at the Welsh Open again, where he failed this time against another ex-world champion named Steve Davis . Due to his good results, Williams got together with John Higgins the chance in the wildcard round at the Masters , where he won his game against Willie Thorne 5-0. In his first Masters participation, however, he immediately failed 4-5 against James Wattana from Thailand . At the International Open and the Thailand Open , he reached the round of 32 two more times before failing in both the British Open and World Cup qualifiers in the round of 64. In the world rankings, he narrowly missed the top 32 with an improvement of 19 places, he landed on rank 39 at the end of the season. Also in 1995 he made it to the final at the Pontins Spring Open , where he defeated Peter Ebdon 7: 4.

After a subdued start to the 1995/96 season , Williams reached the quarter-finals at the UK Championship , in which he was defeated by John Higgins. Shortly before the turn of the year, Williams reached the round of 32 of the German Open in 1995 , where he failed against Alan McManus from Scotland . At the Welsh Open 1996 he then stormed into the final with wins over Willie Thorne , Ken Doherty , Peter Ebdon and Dave Harold , where he met John Parrott. Parrott also had little to oppose Williams and Williams won his first ranking tournament 9-3. At the following International Open and European Open , he reached two more rounds of the last 32, before failing after an opening defeat at the Thailand Open in the quarter-finals of the British Open to Ronnie O'Sullivan. After an opening defeat in the World Cup qualification , he was invited to the Pontins Professional , but where he failed directly because of Ken Doherty. On the world rankings he jumped to 16th place, which qualified him for direct participation in the main rounds of the world rankings tournaments.

He continued his series of successes in the next season : After a round of 16 at the Asian Classic and a quarter-finals at the Scottish Masters invitation tournament , he reached the semi-finals at the Malta Grand Prix - another invitation tournament - where he was defeated by local hero Tony Drago . At the Grand Prix he moved into his first season finale, where he defeated the Scots Euan Henderson 9-5 , so that he won his second ranking tournament title. After he was eliminated in both the UK Championship and the German Open in the quarter-finals, he reached the semi-finals at the Welsh Open , but failed to Mark King . Because of his 6th place in the world rankings he was entitled to take part in the Masters , but since he had the worst of all eligible places in the world rankings, he had to take part again in the wildcard round, where he defeated the youngster Paul Hunter . He then managed a 6-4 win over John Higgins before failing in the quarterfinals to Ken Doherty. At the International Open and Thailand Open he then reached the round of 16 before he won his third ranking tournament at the British Open with a 9-2 final victory over Stephen Hendry . By his 16th world rankings he was also entitled to participate in the finals of the World Snooker Championship in 1997 , where he failed after a 10: 9 win over Terry Griffiths to Stephen Hendry. At the end of the season he took part again in the Pontins Professional , where he was directly defeated by Neal Foulds . With his two ranking tournament victories, Williams improved to fourth place in the world rankings.

Establishment among the world's best and first world championship title

The first half of the 1997/98 season was very mixed, only winning one or two games at the Grand Prix and the UK Championship . Even after the turn of the year things did not go any better at the beginning: With only two draws from six games, he was eliminated in the group stage of the Premier League Snooker and he lost his first game at the Welsh Open . The turning point came at the Masters when he advanced to the finals with wins over Alan McManus , Anthony Hamilton and Steve Davis , where he met Stephen Hendry . Hendry took the lead 5-2 and 9-6, but Williams saved himself in the decisive frame, which he won with 63:56, with which he won his first Triple Crown tournament. After two further defeats at the beginning, he then reached the quarter-finals at the Thailand Masters , but this time Stephen Hendry was victorious. At the British Open , he won over Gary Wilkinson and Ronnie O'Sullivan before failing in the semifinals to John Higgins . At the Snooker World Championship he defeated Quinten Hann in the Decider and also Steve Davis and Peter Ebdon , before losing to Ken Doherty in the semifinals . At the end of the season he moved into the final of the Pontins Professional with wins over Neal Foulds and Ken Doherty , where he defeated the Englishman Martin Clark 9: 6. In the world rankings, he deteriorated by one place to 5th place.

At the start of the next season , Williams reached the quarter-finals of the Scottish Masters invitation tournament and the round of 32 at the Grand Prix , before failing at the UK Championship in the round of 16 to Dave Harold . This was followed by two invitation tournaments in the tournament calendar: at the Malta Grand Prix he lost in the semifinals, at the German Masters he reached the final by winning over Alan McManus and Tony Drago, where he was defeated 4-6 by John Parrott . Right at the next tournament - the ranking tournament Irish Open - he reached the final again, which this time he won 9: 4 against Alan McManus. After a semi - final defeat in the Premier League Snooker , he reached the final of the Welsh Open with two white washs , where he defeated Stephen Hendry 9: 8 in a close game. He had previously won the Nations Cup with Matthew Stevens , Dominic Dale and Darren Morgan against the Scottish team with Stephen Hendry, John Higgins, Alan McManus and Chris Small . After two quarter-final defeats at the Masters and the Scottish Open and an opening defeat at the Charity Challenge against Marco Fu , he made his fourth finals at the Thailand Masters within the season. Again he met Alan McManus, whom he defeated again - this time 9: 7. After two early defeats, he reached a round of 16 again at the British Open . It was followed by the World Snooker Championship , where he stormed into his first World Cup final by defeating Ian McCulloch , Nick Walker , Ken Doherty and defending champion John Higgins , where he met Stephen Hendry. Hendry won the final 11:18, setting a new record for the Crucible- era with seven world titles (the old record was six world championship titles for Steve Davis). At the end of the season he lost in the semifinals at Pontins Professional against Jimmy White . On the world rankings reached a new personal record with third place behind John Higgins and Stephen Hendry.

After a semi-final defeat by Ronnie O'Sullivan at the Millennium Cup at the start of the 1999/2000 season , he moved into the final of the Champions Cup after surviving the group phase , but lost to Stephen Hendry 5-7. After a round of 16 at the British Open and a semi-final at the Scottish Masters invitation tournament , he moved into his first ranking tournament final of the season at the Grand Prix , where he lost to John Higgins in the decider . At the next tournament, the UK Championship , he moved back into the final, having previously defeated Mark Selby 9: 0, Jimmy White 9: 8 and Stephen Hendry 9: 6. This time he met his compatriot Matthew Stevens , whom he defeated 10: 8. After participating in the quarter-finals at China International , he and his Welsh team made it back to the Nations Cup final , where they met the English team with Ronnie O'Sullivan, Jimmy White, John Parrott and Stephen Lee . England won 6-4 and won the first tournament of the new millennium. In the tournament schedule, the Premier League Snooker followed , where he was defeated by Stephen Hendry 5: 9 after surviving the group phase in the final. After a round of 16 at the Welsh Open and a quarter-finals at the Masters , he moved into the final at the Malta Grand Prix , where he had to admit defeat to Ken Doherty . This was followed by the Thailand Masters , where he again made it to the finals and defended his title with a 9: 5 win over Stephen Hendry. After an opening defeat at the Irish Masters , he also moved into the final at the Scottish Open , where he had to admit defeat to Ronnie O'Sullivan with 1: 9. At the snooker world championship he then moved into his second world championship final, where he became world champion for the first time with an 18:16 victory over Matthew Stevens and on the one hand became the first world champion of the new millennium and on the other hand also became a member of the Triple Crown , which consists of Masters , UK Championship and World Snooker Championship . At the end of the season he lost his opening match at the Pontins Professional 3: 5 against Darren Morgan. But this did not affect Williams taking the lead in the world rankings for the first time in his career .

Successful streak at the beginning of the new millennium and Triple Crown title in 2002/03

His first season as world champion began for Williams with a final participation in the Champions Cup , where he was defeated by Ronnie O'Sullivan 5-7. After losing to Mark King in the round of 16 at the British Open , he moved into the final at the Grand Prix , where he defeated Ronnie O'Sullivan 9: 5. O'Sullivan, on the other hand, beat him in the decider of the Scottish Masters semi-final before Williams got the upper hand in the UK Championships semi-finals . But the title defense failed in the subsequent final due to a 4:10 defeat against John Higgins . In the next tournament - the China Open - he made it back to the final, where he again lost to Ronnie O'Sullivan. After elimination in the group stage of the Premier League Snooker and a semi-final defeat of the Welsh team at the Nations Cup , Williams reached the semi-finals of the Welsh Open , in which he was defeated by Ken Doherty . After an opening defeat at the Masters against the Irish Fergal O'Brien , he again reached a final of an invitation tournament at the Malta Grand Prix , where he was defeated by Stephen Hendry with 1: 7. After two round of 16 participation and a semi-final participation in an invitation tournament, he had to admit defeat to Northern Irishman Joe Swail in the quarterfinals of the snooker world championship, with which he too succumbed to the curse of crucible . Nevertheless, he was able to defend his first place in the world rankings.

Also at the start of the 2001/02 season he reached the final of the Champions Cup , where he was defeated 4-7 by John Higgins this time. After a semi-final defeat at the Scottish Masters invitation tournament and a round of 16 defeat by Ali Carter at the British Open , he reached the quarter-finals at the LG Cup - the Grand Prix was renamed LG Cup - where he was defeated by Stephen Hendry. At the subsequent European Open he survived the quarter-finals, but in the semifinals he had to admit defeat to Englishman Joe Perry . He also lost in the semi-finals at the UK Championship and after surviving the group stage at the Premier League Snooker , first against Ronnie O'Sullivan, then against John Higgins. After a round of 16 defeat by Graeme Dott at the Welsh Open , he reached the Masters final with wins over Mark King, Stephen Hendry and Jimmy White , where he lost to English youngster Paul Hunter in the Decider . At the subsequent China Open he reached the final again, where he won a ranking tournament for the first time in the season with a 9: 8 win over Anthony Hamilton . In the next ranking tournament - the Thailand Masters - he reached the final again, where he won his tenth ranking tournament and the Thailand Masters for the third time with a 9: 4 win over Stephen Lee . After an opening defeat at the Irish Masters and a round of 16 defeat at the Scottish Open , he had to admit defeat to Anthony Hamilton 9:13 at the end of the season in the round of 16 of the World Snooker Championship . After two years on the world rankings, he had to give up first place to Ronnie O'Sullivan.

After a cautious start to the 2002/03 season , Williams reached the semi-finals of the British Open , but failed in the British Open Ian McCulloch . At the UK Championship he managed to get into the final by defeating Anthony Davies , Chris Small , Stephen Hendry and Peter Ebdon , in which he defeated Ken Doherty 10: 9. In the new year, after surviving the group stage, he reached the final of the Premier League Snooker , where he was defeated by Marco Fu 5: 9. At the Welsh Open he made the next entry into the final, but failed 5-9 at the Scottish Stephen Hendry. He also reached the final of the Masters , where he met Stephen Hendry again. But this time Williams won 10: 4 and won his second Masters title and the second Triple Crown title of the season. After a semi-final defeat at the European Open against Stephen Hendry, he reached the quarter-finals at the Irish Masters , before failing at the Scottish Open in the second round to Joe Swail . At the end of the season he defeated the Englishmen Stuart Pettman and Stephen Lee as well as the Australian Quinten Hann and the Scots Stephen Hendry at the Snooker World Championship , so that he reached the final of the Snooker World Championship for the third time in his career. With an 18:16 win over Ken Doherty, he won his second world title and as the third player after Steve Davis 1987/88 and Stephen Hendry 1989/90 and 1995/96 all three triple crown tournaments within one season. As a result, he also took back the first world ranking and went into the next season as world number one again.

Crash into the lower top 10

Right at the beginning of the 2003/04 season after victories over Robin Hull , James Wattana , Ali Carter and Ken Doherty with a 9: 5 win over John Higgins in the LG Cup , before he lost to his compatriot Matthew Stevens in the quarter-finals of the British Open . After an opening defeat at the UK Championship , he was eliminated in the semi-finals of the Premier League Snooker . At the Welsh Open he reached the round of 16 and at the Masters the quarter-finals before losing his opening game to Anthony Hamilton at the European Open . After he was eliminated again in the round of 16 at the Irish Masters , he reached the quarter-finals at the Players Championship , where he had to admit defeat to Peter Ebdon . At the end of the season he lost his last Triple Crown title by an 11-13 defeat by Joe Perry in the round of 16 of the World Snooker Championship . On the world rankings he had to give up his first place again immediately, Ronnie O'Sullivan moved up to the top for him again .

In 2004 he was awarded the title of Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE).

In the first half of the next season Williams won three tournaments only his opening game at the British Open before he was eliminated there. In the new year he reached the final of the Premier League Snooker , which he lost 5-0 to Ronnie O'Sullivan. After two further defeats at the beginning, he reached the quarter-finals at the Masters , where he failed in the decider to Jimmy White . His best result of the season he then achieved at the Irish Masters when he reached the semifinals with wins over Paul Davies , Alan McManus and Stephen Lee , in which he was defeated by Ronnie O'Sullivan. He was also relatively successful at the China Open , he was eliminated in the quarterfinals with a 2-5 defeat against Alan McManus. In the first round of the World Snooker Championship , he played his first maximum break in the eleventh and last frame in his 10-1 win over Robert Milkins , before failing in the round of 16 against the Englishman Ian McCulloch in the decider. On the world rankings, he fell to ninth place, which was his worst world ranking since the 1995/96 season.

After two defeats at the beginning of the 2005/06 season , Williams reached the round of 16 at the UK Championship , in which he failed to Stephen Hendry. After he was eliminated in the quarterfinals of the Masters , he also lost in the same round at the Malta Cup and the Welsh Open . At the China Open he achieved his greatest success since winning the LG Cup in 2003 , when he made it to the finals after winning over Stephen Hendry and Ding Junhui - who had recently won the UK Championship at the age of 18 - where he was defeated John Higgins in the decider . At the end of the season he reached the quarterfinals of the World Snooker Championship with wins over Anthony Hamilton and Mark Selby , where he had to admit defeat to Ronnie O'Sullivan. He was able to move up one rank on the ranking list.

Crash from the top 16 in the world rankings

The 2006/07 season began with a round of 16 participation in the Northern Ireland Trophy and the final at Pot Black , where he defeated John Higgins 119-13 in a one-frame game . After being eliminated in the group stage at the Grand Prix , he reached the second round of the UK Championship again, where he had to admit defeat to Stephen Hendry. In the new year, however, Williams did not achieve a single victory, so that he slipped from the top 10 to 12th place in the world rankings for the first time in twelve years.

After three defeats in the beginning and the elimination in the group stage of the Grand Prix , Williams reached the quarterfinals of the UK Championships in the 2007/08 season by defeating Ricky Walden and Mark Allen , where he had to admit defeat to Stephen Maguire from Scotland . After an opening defeat at the Masters , he was eliminated in the group stage of the Malta Cup , before moving into the round of 16 of the Welsh Open after a 5-4 victory over Marco Fu and there defeated the Englishman Shaun Murphy . After being eliminated in the second group of the Championship League , he reached a quarter-finals again at the China Open , but he was defeated by his compatriot Ryan Day . At the end of the season he failed after a 10: 3 victory over Mark Davis in the round of 16 of the Snooker World Championship at eventual world champion Ronnie O'Sullivan . In the world rankings he fell from the top 16 to 22nd place, which means that in addition to being eligible to participate in the Masters, he also had to qualify for the finals of the world ranking tournaments for the first time since 1996.

Despite the qualifiers Williams started with a second round participation in the Northern Ireland Trophy in the 2008-09 season . At the subsequent Shanghai Masters he even reached the quarterfinals, in which he had to admit defeat to Ronnie O'Sullivan. After three defeats at the start, he also made it into the quarter-finals of the UK Championship , where he had to admit defeat to Englishman Ali Carter in the decider . In the Championship League he took part in a total of four groups, where he reached the group final of his second group and was eliminated 3-0 by Joe Perry , before being eliminated in group five after four groups. After an opening defeat at the Welsh Open , he reached the main round of the China Open , before he failed after a 10: 5 win over Tom Ford in the first main round of the Snooker World Championship to Stephen Hendry . In the world rankings he managed to climb back into the top 16, and at the end of the season he landed in 15th place.

First comeback and renewed ascent to first place in the world rankings

At the start of the 2009/10 season, Williams reached the second round of the Shanghai Masters , before the Grand Prix , among others, Stephen Hendry defeated in the semifinals and the Chinese Ding Junhui defeated. After a round of 16 participation in the UK Championship , he lost in the Championship League in four groups in the semifinals, which he once again missed the Winner's Group . With a wildcard he was allowed to take part in the wildcard round of the Masters , where he defeated the Englishmen Ali Carter and Shaun Murphy after defeating Rory McLeod before failing in the semifinals to Ronnie O'Sullivan . After a quarter-final defeat by Stephen Maguire at the Welsh Open , he reached the final at the China Open with wins over Jamie Cope , John Higgins , Marco Fu and Ali Carter, where he came back after four years with a 10: 6 win over Ding Junhui Won world ranking tournament. At the end of the season he reached the round of 16 of the World Snooker Championship , where he lost to Ronnie O'Sullivan. In the world rankings he managed to climb back into the top 10 with eighth place.

Williams with the trophy of the German Masters 2011

At the beginning of the 2010/11 season , in addition to a new world ranking with cut-off points, the Players Tour Championship was also a new series of minor ranking tournaments - tournaments that have significantly less influence on the ranking than "normal" ranking tournaments - introduced. Williams had immediate success and won the first PTC event with a 4-0 win over Stephen Maguire . After two restrained results, he reached the semifinals in the fourth event , in which he had to admit defeat to Barry Pinches . After another subdued result and the elimination in the group stage of the Premier League Snooker , he reached the second round of the Shanghai Masters and the semifinals of the World Open , where he was defeated by the Australian Neil Robertson . He then reached the semifinals of the EPTC-Tournament Brugge Open (EPTC = European Players Tour Championship ) and the second round of the fifth PTC events , before the third EPTC event - the Rhine-Main Masters his second maximum break played before in eliminated in the second round. After several other average results he reached the final at the UK Championship , which he lost after a 9: 5 lead with 9:10 against John Higgins. In the Championship League he won the group final of the second group after the elimination in the semifinals of the first group, so that he was allowed to take part for the first time in the Winner's Group , where he fought his way to the semifinals with three wins from six games, where he had to admit defeat to his compatriot Matthew Stevens . After two initial defeats at the Masters and at the Shoot-Out , he reached the final at the German Masters in Berlin , in which he defeated Mark Selby 9: 7. After a quarterfinal defeat at the Welsh Open , he was allowed to participate in the Grand Finals of the PTC , where he failed after a 4-0 victory over Anthony Hamilton to Mark Selby. After an opening defeat at the China Open , he reached the semi-finals of the World Snooker Championship with victories over Ryan Day , Jamie Cope and Mark Allen , in which he had to admit defeat to eventual world champion John Higgins with 14:17. During the entire season he had worked his way up the world rankings, but it was not until the end of the season that he made another jump to first place in the world rankings. So after exactly seven years to the day he was again the leader of the world rankings.

Another crash from the top 16

After an opening defeat at the start of the 2011/12 season , Williams reached the final at the Australian Goldfields Open , which he lost 8: 9 against Stuart Bingham . After an early loss in a PTC event, he reached the semi-finals of the Premier League snooker , in which he had to admit defeat to Ronnie O'Sullivan . After two early defeats, he moved into a ranking tournament final again at the Shanghai Masters , where he lost again - this time against Mark Selby - in the decider . It was followed by several early defeats before he only reached the round of 32 at the tenth PTC event and the round of 16 at the UK Championship and was eliminated there. After he had made it into the round of 32 at the eleventh PTC event , he reached the quarterfinals of the Masters after an early defeat at the last PTC event and elimination in the group stage of the Championship League , where he failed against Australian Neil Robertson . After being eliminated in the round of 32 of the shoot-out , he reached the quarter-finals of the German Masters , where he had to admit defeat to Englishman Stephen Lee . He then reached the round of 16 at both the Welsh Open and the China Open , before failing to Ronnie O'Sullivan in the second round of the World Snooker Championship . As a result, he had to give up his first world rankings after the first cut-off point to Mark Selby, at the end of the season he finished third behind Selby and Judd Trump .

In May 2012 it was announced that Williams would be inducted into the Snooker Hall of Fame along with Ronnie O'Sullivan and John Higgins and two-time world champion Walter Donaldson .

Mark Williams at the German Masters 2013

After a round of 16 participation in the first event of the Asian Players Tour Championship at the start of the next season , he reached the quarter-finals at the Wuxi Classic , in which he was defeated by the Scots Marcus Campbell . After a loss in the round of 32 at the 6 Red World Championship , he reached the semi-finals of the first PTC event , where he had to admit defeat to Englishman Jack Lisowski . He was also successful in the second and third events with a quarter-finals and a sixteenth-finals participation, rather he lost in the semifinals of the Shanghai Masters to Judd Trump . After losing to the Chinese Cao Yupeng in the second round of the second APTC event , he reached the round of 32 at the Antwerp Open and - after an opening defeat at the International Championship - the quarter-finals at the fourth PTC event . After an elimination in the round of 32 of the Bulgarian Open , two early defeats and elimination in the third group of the Championship League , he reached the quarter-finals at the Masters , where he had to admit defeat to Mark Selby. Then he was eliminated in both the quarterfinals of the shoot-out and in the round of the last 32 of the German Masters against Michael Holt , before he was eliminated from the tournament at the Welsh Open as well in the round of 32. After two initial defeats, he reached the quarter-finals at the China Open , where he had to admit defeat to Mark Selby. At the end of the season he lost his opening game in the first main round of the snooker world championship against his compatriot Michael White . At the end of the season, he ended up in fifteenth place after being continuously relegated throughout the season.

Mark Williams at the German Masters 2014

At the start of the 2013/14 season , Williams reached the second round of the Bulgarian Open , before moving into the second round of the Wuxi Classic ranked tournament . At the subsequent Rotterdam Open , the second EPTC event in 2013/14, he reached the final, which he narrowly won with a 4-3 win over Mark Selby. After a quarterfinal participation at the Blueball Wood Open , he also reached the quarterfinals at the 6-Red World Championship , but lost to Mark Selby. After two restrained tournament results he reached the round of 16 at the Indian Open , in which he had to admit defeat to local hero Aditya Mehta . After he was eliminated twice in a row in the round of 32, he reached a round of 16 at the Antwerp Open again, where he failed again against Aditya Mehta. After losing in the UK Championship in the round of 32, he was eliminated from the group stage of the Championship League before losing to Chinese Ding Junhui after an opening defeat in the shoot-out at the German Masters in the round of 32 . At the Welsh Open he made it to the round of 16, then he reached the round of 32 of the World Open before he had to admit defeat to Marco Fu in the round of 16 of the Grand Finals of the PTC 2013/14 . After reaching the round of 32 at the China Open , he lost his opening game in the World Cup qualifying against the Scottish Alan McManus , as he has been on the snooker world rankings , which had more cut-off points since the beginning of this season Antwerp Open was ranked 18th in the world and therefore had to qualify for the World Cup again and could not take part in the Masters .

Stabilization in the lower top 16 and almost resignation in 2017

Mark Williams at the German Masters 2015

After an early loss at the start of the 2014/15 season , he reached the round of 32 at the Wuxi Classic before failing to Mark Allen in the round of 16 at the Riga Open . After an opening defeat at the Paul Hunter Classic , he reached the quarterfinals of the 6-Red World Championship , where he was defeated by Ricky Walden in the decider . At the subsequent Shanghai Masters he had to contest a qualifying match again because he had slipped to 20th place in the world rankings. Despite participating in the round of 16, he lost another two places, so he was temporarily listed in 22nd place. After several more subdued results, he made it to the semi-finals at the International Championship , which allowed him to improve back to 18th place. After a quarter-final participation at the Ruhr Open and elimination in the round of the last 32 of the UK Championships and the Lisbon Open , he was eliminated in the group semifinals of the seventh and last group of the Championship League against David Gilbert . At the subsequent Xuzhou Open he reached the semi-finals before he had to admit defeat at the German Masters in the round of 32 Mark Allen. At the Welsh Open he finally managed to make another entry into the semifinals - by defeating Jamie Jones , Judd Trump and Marco Fu , among others - where he lost in the decider to Englishman Ben Woollaston . He reached his first season finale at the Gdynia Open , but lost 4-0 to Neil Robertson . Shortly before his fortieth birthday, he moved into the final of the World Seniors Championship , where he won the World Seniors Championship for the first time with a 2-1 win over Fergal O'Brien . After a round of 16 participation in the shoot-out , he reached the semi-finals of the Indian Open , where he had to admit defeat to Michael White . He then reached the quarter-finals of the World Grand Prix , where he had to admit defeat to Judd Trump. Due to his good PTC results, he was again at the Grand Finals - which was the only PTC tournament of the season to be held as a fully-fledged ranking tournament, where he reached the final with wins over Thepchaiya Un-Nooh , Mark Selby , Matthew Selt and Judd Trump, where he met Joe Perry . Although Williams was already leading 3-0, he lost 3-4 at the end of the game. After a round of 16 at the China Open , he lost his opening game in the first main round of the World Snooker Championship against his compatriot Matthew Stevens . In the world rankings he finished 14th at the end of the season, having worked his way up continuously for most of the season.

At the start of the next season , Williams first reached the round of 16 of the Riga Open and then the quarter-finals of the Paul Hunter Classics , where he lost to the eventual winner Ali Carter , who won a tournament for the first time after surviving his second cancer in 2014. After being eliminated in the round of 32 of the 6 Red World Championship , he reached the quarter-finals of the Shanghai Masters , in which he was defeated by Judd Trump. After a quarter-finals at the Ruhr Open , he reached the round of 32 of the International Championships before reaching another PTC semifinals at the Bulgarian Open . After several subdued results, Williams won the fourth group of the Championship League after losing to Judd Trump in the group final of the second group. In the Winner's Group he took second place, but in the subsequent semifinals he lost to the eventual winner Judd Trump . After two further defeats at the beginning he moved into the round of 32 at the German Masters , in which he lost to the eventual winner Martin Gould . He then reached the semifinals in the shoot-out , where he lost to the Finn Robin Hull , who would later win the tournament. After participating in the round of 16 at the Welsh Open , he lost four opening games in a row. Only at the end of the season in Sheffield he had success again when he moved into the quarterfinals of the World Snooker Championship with victories over Graeme Dott and Michael Holt , where he had to admit defeat to the Chinese Ding Junhui . In the world rankings he rose to number 12.

In the first tournament of the 2016/17 season - the Riga Masters - he reached the semi-finals, in which he had to admit defeat to Michael Holt . After participating in the round of 32 of the Indian Open , he reached the second round at the World Open , where he was defeated by John Higgins . At the 6-Red World Championship he was eliminated again in the round of 32 before he reached the second round at the English - the first tournament in the newly introduced Home Nation Series . After two early defeats, he moved into the quarter-finals of the Northern Ireland Open , in which he was defeated by the Englishman Kyren Wilson . He also reached the quarterfinals of the UK Championship before failing to Mark Davis in the round of 16 at the Scottish Open . As part of the Championship League , he reached two group finals before being eliminated in the sixth group. After a defeat at the beginning of the Masters , he reached the main round of the German Masters in Berlin , where he failed directly on the eventual winner Anthony Hamilton . After two more early defeats, he reached the quarter-finals at the Gibraltar Open , in which he had to admit defeat to Shaun Murphy . Then he reached a final of a ranking tournament at the China Open again, but lost it with 8:10 to Mark Selby . Nevertheless, Williams had meanwhile flown out of the top 16, so he had to qualify for the World Snooker Championship at the end of the season. After victories over Zhao Xintong and Liam Highfield , he failed in the last lap to Stuart Carrington . At the end of the season he improved to 15th place in the world rankings.

After the elimination in the World Cup qualification, Williams wanted to retire from active sport, but his wife Joanne was able to prevent this. Williams looked for a new coach with Stephen Feeney and did not end his career.

Second comeback in 2017/18 and third world title in 2018

Williams started the 2017/18 season with a semifinal participation at the Riga Masters , where he failed on Ryan Day . After a quarter-finals at the China Championship he won the 6-Red World Championship with an 8-2 win over Thepchaiya Un-Nooh after surviving the group stage . After two quarter-finals at the World Open and the European Open , he lost to Jack Lisowski at the English Open in the round of 32 . He then reached the round of 16 of the International Championships before losing to Ronnie O'Sullivan in the quarterfinals of the Shanghai Masters . At the Northern Ireland Open he reached his first season ranking tournament final, which he won 9: 8 against Yan Bingtao . After two early defeats, he won the fifth group in the Championship League , but then failed relatively clearly in the Winner's Group . At the Masters he lost to Kyren Wilson in the quarter-finals before he stormed into the finals at the German Masters in Berlin and there defeated Graeme Dott from Scots 9-1. After a round of 16 participation in the shoot-out and an opening defeat at the World Grand Prix , he reached the round of 32 at the Welsh Open , in which Martin Gould had to admit defeat. At the Players Championship , he moved into the semi-finals before he was eliminated from Mark Selby in the quarter-finals of the China Open . This was followed by the 2018 World Snooker Championship , where he made it to the semi-finals with victories over Jimmy Robertson , Robert Milkins and Ali Carter , where he met Barry Hawkins thanks to the early elimination of several favorites . Williams made his fourth World Cup final with an 18:15 victory. In the final he met John Higgins , who despite a 14: 7 lead by Williams was able to equalize on the last day to 15:15. Williams raised to 17:15 before Higgins won the next frame on black. With a 69 break in the 34th frame, Williams secured his third world title, although he hadn't even thought of winning the title himself at the beginning of the tournament. With this belief, Williams had made a bet that if he should win the World Cup, he would come to the next press conference naked. To the delight of the global press, Williams kept his promise and appeared at the press conference, wearing only a towel. Thanks to his World Cup triumph, he rose to third place in the world rankings.

At the beginning of his third season as reigning world champion, Williams reached the final of the World Open after the round of 32 of the Riga Masters , where he met David Gilbert . Although Gilbert was already leading 5: 9, Williams won 10: 9, so that he rose to second place in the world rankings. After being eliminated in the round of 16 of the 6-Red World Championship , he reached the quarter-finals at the Shanghai Masters , where he had to admit defeat to Barry Hawkins . After a round of 16 at the China Championship , he reached the round of 32 of the English Open . Then Williams was eliminated relatively early in several tournaments, so that he only reached a round of 16 again at the UK Championship , which he lost to Stephen Maguire . He then lost his opening game at the Masters , before losing 5-0 to the eventual winner Kyren Wilson in the quarter-finals of the German Masters . This was followed by two more tournaments with restrained results, the World Grand Prix and the Welsh Open .

successes

Individual competitions

output	year	competition	Final opponent	Result
Amateur tournaments
Second	1991	World Masters - Juniors	John Higgins	1: 6
winner	1995	Pontins Spring Open	Peter Ebdon	7: 4
Non-ranking tournaments
winner	1994	Benson & Hedges Championship	Rod Lawler	9: 5
Invitation tournaments
winner	1998	Pontins Professional	Martin Clark	9: 6 1
Second	1998	German Masters	John Parrott	4: 6
Second	1999	Champions Cup	Stephen Hendry	5: 7
Second	1999	Premier League snooker	Stephen Hendry	5: 9
Second	2000	Champions Cup	Ronnie O'Sullivan	5: 7
Second	2001	Malta Grand Prix	Stephen Hendry	1: 7
Second	2001	Champions Cup	John Higgins	4: 7
Second	2003	Premier League snooker	Marco Fu	5: 9
Second	2005	Premier League snooker	Ronnie O'Sullivan	0: 6
winner	2006	Pot Black	John Higgins	119: 13 2
winner	2015	World Seniors Championship	Fergal O'Brien	2: 1
winner	2017	6-Red World Championship	Thepchaiya Un-Nooh	8: 2
Minor ranking tournaments
winner	Event 1	Players Tour Championship 2010/11	Stephen Maguire	4-0
winner	Event 3	Players Tour Championship 2013/14	Mark Selby	4: 3
Second	Event 9	Players Tour Championship 2014/15	Neil Robertson	0: 4
Ranked tournaments
winner	1996	Welsh Open	John Parrott	9: 3
winner	1996	Grand Prix	Euan Henderson	9: 5
winner	1997	British Open	Stephen Hendry	9: 2
winner	1998	Irish Open	Alan McManus	9: 4
winner	1999	Welsh Open	Stephen Hendry	9: 8
winner	1999	Thailand Masters	Alan McManus	9: 7
Second	1999	Grand Prix	John Higgins	8: 9
Second	2000	Malta Grand Prix	Ken Doherty	3: 9
winner	2000	Thailand Masters	Stephen Hendry	9: 5
Second	2000	Scottish Open	Ronnie O'Sullivan	1: 9
winner	2000	Grand Prix	Ronnie O'Sullivan	9: 5
Second	2000	China Open	Ronnie O'Sullivan	3: 9
winner	2002	China Open	Anthony Hamilton	9: 8
winner	2002	Thailand Masters	Stephen Lee	9: 3
Second	2003	Welsh Open	Stephen Hendry	5: 9
winner	2003	LG Cup	John Higgins	9: 5
winner	2006	China Open	John Higgins	9: 8
winner	2010	China Open	Ding Junhui	10: 6
winner	2011	German Masters	Mark Selby	9: 7
Second	2011	Australian Goldfields Open	Stuart Bingham	8: 9
Second	2011	Shanghai Masters	Mark Selby	9:10
Second	Grand Finals 2014/15	Players Tour Championship	Joe Perry	3: 4
Second	2017	China Open	Mark Selby	8:10
winner	2017	Northern Ireland Open	Yan Bingtao	9: 8
winner	2018	German Masters	Graeme Dott	9: 1
winner	2018	World Open	David Gilbert	10: 9
Second	2019	China Championship	Shaun Murphy	9:10
Triple Crown tournaments
winner	1998	Masters	Stephen Hendry	10: 9 3
Second	1999	World Snooker Championship	Stephen Hendry	11:18 4
winner	1999	UK Championship	Matthew Stevens	10: 8 4
winner	2000	World Snooker Championship	Matthew Stevens	18:16 4
Second	2000	UK Championship	John Higgins	4:10 4
Second	2002	Masters	Paul Hunter	9:10 3
winner	2002	UK Championship	Ken Doherty	10: 9 4
winner	2003	Masters	Stephen Hendry	10: 4 3
winner	2003	World Snooker Championship	Ken Doherty	18:16 4
Second	2010	UK Championship	John Higgins	9:10 4
winner	2018	World Snooker Championship	John Higgins	18:16 4

Team competitions

output	year	competition	Teammates	Final opponent	Result
winner	1999	Nations Cup	Matthew Stevens Dominic Dale Darren Morgan	Stephen Hendry John Higgins Alan McManus Chris Small	6: 4
Second	2000	Nations Cup	Matthew Stevens Dominic Dale Darren Morgan	Ronnie O'Sullivan Jimmy White John Parrott Stephen Lee	4: 6

¹ Listed as a non-ranking tournament by CueTracker

² By points, not frames

³ Invitation tournament

^4th Ranking tournament

Personal

Mark Williams has three sons together with his wife Joanne, Connor (* 2004), Kian (* 2007) and Joel (* 2013).

Williams has a strong match game, which earned him the nickname "The Welsh Potting Machine".

Web links

Commons : Mark Williams  - Collection of Images, Videos and Audio Files

• Player profile on World Snooker (English)
• Mark J. Williams in the Snooker Database (English)
• Profile on snooker.org
• Profile at ProSnookerBlog
• Report on Williams' first Maximum Break ( Memento from March 24, 2016 in the Internet Archive )
• Player profile on snooker virus ( Memento from January 11, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) (German)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Profile of Mark Williams on CueTracker (as of February 28, 2019)
2. ↑ Century Breaks (as of February 28, 2019)
3. ↑ ^{a b c d e f} Rolf Kalb : The fascinating world of snooker . Edel Books , Hamburg 2018, ISBN 978-3-8419-0611-3 , pp.  124-125 .
4. ↑ ^{a b} Ron Florax: Mark Williams - Season 1990-1991 - Non-professional Results. CueTracker.net, accessed on February 23, 2019 .  
5. ↑ Ron Florax: Mark Williams - Season 1992-1993 - Professional Results. CueTracker.net, accessed on February 23, 2019 .  
6. ↑ ^{a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z} Ron Florax: Ranking History For Mark Williams. CueTracker.net, accessed February 24, 2019 .  
7. ↑ Ron Florax: Mark Williams - Season 1993-1994 - Professional Results. CueTracker.net, accessed February 24, 2019 .  
8. ↑ ^{a b} Ron Florax: Mark Williams - Season 1994–1995 - Professional Results. CueTracker.net, accessed February 24, 2019 .  
9. ↑ ^{a b} Ron Florax: Mark Williams - Season 1994–1995 - Non-professional Results. CueTracker.net, accessed on February 23, 2019 .  
10. ↑ ^{a b} Ron Florax: Mark Williams - Season 1995–1996 - Professional Results. CueTracker.net, accessed February 24, 2019 .  
11. ↑ ^{a b c} Ron Florax: Mark Williams - Season 1996–1997 - Professional Results. CueTracker.net, accessed February 24, 2019 .  
12. ↑ ^{a b c} Ron Florax: Mark Williams - Season 1997-1998 - Professional Results. CueTracker.net, accessed February 24, 2019 .  
13. ↑ ^{a b c d e f} Ron Florax: Mark Williams - Season 1998–1999 - Professional Results. CueTracker.net, accessed February 24, 2019 .  
14. ↑ ^{a b c d e f g h i} Ron Florax: Mark Williams - Season 1999–2000 - Professional Results. CueTracker.net, accessed February 24, 2019 .  
15. ↑ ^{a b c d e f} Ron Florax: Mark Williams - Season 2000–2001 - Professional Results. CueTracker.net, accessed February 25, 2019 .  
16. ↑ ^{a b c d e} Ron Florax: Mark Williams - Season 2001–2002 - Professional Results. CueTracker.net, accessed February 25, 2019 .  
17. ↑ ^{a b c d e f} Ron Florax: Mark Williams - Season 2002–2003 - Professional Results. CueTracker.net, accessed February 25, 2019 .  
18. ↑ ^{a b} Ron Florax: Mark Williams - Season 2003-2004 - Professional Results. CueTracker.net, accessed February 25, 2019 .  
19. ↑ ^{a b} Ron Florax: Mark Williams - Season 2004-2005 - Professional Results. CueTracker.net, accessed February 25, 2019 .  
20. ↑ ^{a b} Ron Florax: Mark Williams - Season 2005-2006 - Professional Results. CueTracker.net, accessed February 25, 2019 .  
21. ↑ ^{a b} Ron Florax: Mark Williams - Season 2006-2007 - Professional Results. CueTracker.net, accessed February 25, 2019 .  
22. ↑ Ron Florax: Mark Williams - Season 2007-2008 - Professional Results. CueTracker.net, accessed February 25, 2019 .  
23. ↑ Ron Florax: Mark Williams - Season 2008–2009 - Professional Results. CueTracker.net, accessed February 25, 2019 .  
24. ↑ ^{a b} Ron Florax: Mark Williams - Season 2009-2010 - Professional Results. CueTracker.net, accessed February 26, 2019 .  
25. ↑ ^{a b c d} Ron Florax: Mark Williams - Season 2010-2011 - Professional Results. CueTracker.net, accessed February 26, 2019 .  
26. ↑ ^{a b c} Ron Florax: Mark Williams - Season 2011–2012 - Professional Results. CueTracker.net, accessed February 26, 2019 .  
27. ↑ Rocket Named Player Of Year. (No longer available online.) World Snooker , May 11, 2012, archived from the original on February 23, 2014 ; accessed on February 26, 2019 (English).  
28. ↑ Ron Florax: Mark Williams - Season 2012-2013 - Professional Results. CueTracker.net, accessed February 26, 2019 .  
29. ↑ ^{a b} Ron Florax: Mark Williams - Season 2013-2014 - Professional Results. CueTracker.net, accessed February 27, 2019 .  
30. ↑ ^{a b c d} Ron Florax: Mark Williams - Season 2014–2015 - Professional Results. CueTracker.net, accessed February 27, 2019 .  
31. ↑ Ron Florax: Mark Williams - Season 2015-2016 - Professional Results. CueTracker.net, accessed February 27, 2019 .  
32. ↑ ^{a b} Ron Florax: Mark Williams - Season 2016–2017 - Professional Results. CueTracker.net, accessed February 27, 2019 .  
33. ↑ ^{a b c} Triumph thanks to Mrs. Joanne - Snooker world champion Williams celebrates naked. n-tv.de , May 8, 2018, accessed on February 27, 2019 (English).  
34. ↑ ^{a b c} Ron Florax: Mark Williams - Season 2018-2019 - Professional Results. CueTracker.net, accessed February 27, 2019 .  
35. ↑ Rolf Kalb : The fascinating world of snooker . Edel Books , Hamburg 2018, ISBN 978-3-8419-0611-3 , pp.  7-16 .
36. ↑ ^{a b c d} Ron Florax: Mark Williams - Season 2017-2018 - Professional Results. CueTracker.net, accessed February 27, 2019 .  
37. ↑ Ron Florax: Mark Williams - Season 2019-2020 - Professional Results. CueTracker.net, accessed September 29, 2019 .