Mark Selby praise for icon Mark Williams ahead of British Open snooker final - 'One of the all-time greats'
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Updated 01/10/2023 at 09:01 GMT+1
Mark Selby and Mark Williams are two of the modern greats of snooker, and could be set to contest a potentially epic British Open final before a sell-out crowd in Cheltenham on Sunday. Boasting seven world titles, 46 ranking event victories and five Masters trophies between them, the duo are comfortably inside the top 10 most prolific champions in the professional televised era of the sport.
mark williams mark selby
Image credit: Reuters
Mark Selby has hailed "all-time great" Mark Williams ahead of their best-of-19 frame British Open final clash in Cheltenham on Sunday.
Selby was at his clinical best in whitewashing Xiao Guodong 6-0 to ease through to the final on Saturday night, producing runs of 64, 94, 123 and 61, while Williams held his nerve to see off the heavy-scoring Hossein Vafaei in the first semi-final 6-3 earlier in the day, with five 50+ breaks.
Williams will be contesting his 40th ranking final since turning professional in 1992, and is level at 2-2 with Selby in ranking finals.
The Welshman enjoyed victories in the 2011 German Masters final (9-7) and the 2013 Rotterdam Open (4-3), while Leicester icon Selby emerged triumphant in the 2011 Shanghai Masters (10-9) and the 2017 China Open (10-8).
“You can’t rattle him," Selby told reporters. "He’s so laid back. He doesn’t take things too seriously and is one of the all-time greats. You know that you are always going to be in a tough match whenever you play him.
"You have to be on top of your game to come through."
The pair last met during Selby's run to a fourth world title in 2021 when he completed a 13-3 drubbing with a session to spare in the Crucible quarter-finals. Selby is also 22-17 ahead on the career head-to-heads.
Three-time world champion Williams since lifting his first trophy of three at the event back in 1997 with an incredible 9-2 dismissal of Stephen Hendry.
A win on Sunday would see him move onto 25 career ranking victories as Selby pursues a 23rd ranking trophy.
"It is another final and I don’t know how many more times I am going to get to the final of these big competitions," said Williams.
Having won six of their previous seven meetings, it is no surprise to see Selby priced as the favourite to land the £100,000 winner's cheque.
The match begins at 1pm (UK time) with nine frames to be played in the opening session before they play to a finish on a Sunday night with another 10 frames scheduled to decide the winner from 7pm.
Whatever happens, the pair face a quick turnaround with the English Open getting underway in Brentwood on Monday - live on Eurosport and discovery+ - as Selby defends the title he won in December with a 9-6 victory against Luca Brecel.
Selby is due to open up against Xing Zihao at 3pm, while Williams is in action against Ian Burns at 7pm.
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Stream top snooker action, including the World Championship, live on discovery+, the Eurosport app and at eurosport.com
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