The third quarter final takes place at the Tour Championship on Wednesday when two absolute legends of the game meet when Ronnie O’Sullivan takes on Mark Williams inside Venue Cymru in Llandudno.
The winner of this contest will face Neil Robertson in the semi-final on Friday so they both know their route to the final from here on in. These two are no strangers to each other and it will be fascinating to see what they have in store for us here.
Ronnie O’Sullivan
On the face of it you wouldn’t think this has been the best season for Ronnie O’Sullivan but despite that he will be crowned the world number one at the end of the week regardless of what happens in this match. That will be tested when the World Championship comes along and his £500,000 winning prize from when he won that tournament two years ago comes off but it still highlights that he hasn’t been terrible over the past two years.
His only title this season came in the opening leg of the Cazoo Series at the World Grand Pirix when he came from behind to defeat Neil Robertson. He also made the final of the European Masters where he was surprisingly beaten by Fan Zhengyi as well as a raft of semi-final and quarter finals in the other tournaments this season. O’Sullivan hasn’t hidden over the past couple of years how he desires to peak for big events like this so we should expect to see him close to his best.
Mark Williams
When you think that Mark Williams won £100,000 for winning the British Open back in August, he was almost assured of his place in the tournament there and then but to his credit he has played some nice stuff in other events this season without getting another trophy in his cabinet. Williams hasn’t played all the tournaments because of Covid initially but then because he was already in all the major events and it will be interesting to see if that freshness helps him here.
Williams will know he will need to be at his best in this match but he could be a dangerous animal at the same time. I say that because he has a carefree attitude at the best of times and he certainly has nothing to lose in this match. His ranking isn’t going anywhere for a while and the 20,000 points he’ll pick up even if he loses here is akin to making the semi-final of one of the smaller events so anything from here is going to be a bonus for him.
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Head to head
Mark Williams won’t need me to tell him that his record against Ronnie O’Sullivan is absolutely terrible. It reads 32-8 to the Rocket and when you look at the frame count you can see why. O’Sullivan leads 260-182 in that regard so the 78 frame lead he has equates to a rough average winning margin of more than three frames for the Englishman. It doesn’t get any better for Williams in their quarter final battles of the past. He trails 9-2 in those. Incredibly none of those previous 40 meetings have been over the best of 19 frames so they meet over this distance for the first time here.
Betting
One of the reasons why Ronnie O’Sullivan has such a good record over Mark Williams is the respect he has for the game the Welshman has. When O’Sullivan respects you he will always play well against you and I see no different here. If that wasn’t bad enough for Williams, the Rocket generates comes and plays his best snooker at this elite events which make him feel special so I think the Welsh ace has a tough day on his hands here.
He won’t need me to tell him that. He’ll know the size of the task purely because he has only beaten O’Sullivan once in the last 20 years. I’m not convinced Williams is quite at the form level he was earlier in the season either which would be a concern for his fans and followers. I expect to see something close to the best of O’Sullivan in this match and if we do I think that will be more than enough to leave Williams trailing in his shadow.
Tips
Back R.O’Sullivan (-2.5 frames) to beat M.Williams for a 3/10 stake at 1.91 with William Hill
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