World Championship 2011 - Day 7 - Mark Williams, first player to reach the quarter-finals

"The Welsh Potting Machine" reached the QF

Day 7 brought us the first player through to this year’s World Championship quarter-finals, as Mark Williams beat Jamie Cope 13-4 in a match that saw the Welshman playing strategically well.
Judd Trump and Martin Gould ended their second session, Juddy being the man that succeeded to take the lead 11-5, while Ali Carter and Greame Dott finished their encounter all squared up at 8-8, after quite a dramatic match.
Mark Allen and Barry Hawkins were also playing Friday afternoon, Barry taking control of the match with a partial 5-3 result.

Jamie Cope`s dream of winning at Crucible was ended

With a first session ended on a 7-1 scoreline and continued with a 12-4 result, it wasn’t too much of a surprise to see Mark Williams almost crashing Jamie Cope’s Crucible dream. Although in the second session Jamie seemed a bit more ready to start the battle he only succeeded in winning three frames but the gap between him and the Welshman was pretty big.


The third and last session didn’t last very long as Williams hit in runs of 20, 24 and 14 to cash the last frame he needed for booking a place into the quarter-finals, with a 13-4 final result.
After the match, Williams confessed he would have rather likeed a more elaborated battle, not just one single frame, witch in my opinion stands for a great character. A great player that’s not afraid of competition and about putting up a fight. A great victory for the "Welsh Potting Machine" and a very well deserved one.


Judd Trump and Martin Gould ended their first session on a 5-3 scoreline in favor of the first named one, but the second one wasn’t going to so equilibrated, as the Bristol-boy stormed in to set a 11-5 lead.

Martin Gould must put a fight for the needed comeback

We can honestly say that the first encounter between Trump and Gould was a balanced one and although Juddy took the first three frames of the match, Gouldie`s response didn’t come a long way after that. Still, the second session wasn’t going to follow that same pattern.


A break of 76 and Gould was winning his first frame of the day, while a 108 was restoring the previous order in putting Trump two points ahead. One more try was made by the Martin as he hit a break of 72 to go 5-6, but once again Trump was careful enough as to make a 69.
From 7-5 the match was a genuine one way traffic session as breaks of 51, 84 and 67 were bringing Trump the following four frames of the day and a wonderful lead of 11-5.
It’s true that Gould had a pretty good chance during frame13 to pull one back, as the faith of that frame ended up on a repotted black, but unfortunately for him, Judd potted it first.

Carter is not pleased with the current scoreline...

Ali Carter and Graeme Dott were the last ones to close the day, as the boys played their second session. After the first one was in favor of the Scotsman, him leading 5-3, the second one was going to be in favor of both players, for the partial scorline ended up on 8-8.


Knowing that he must make a comeback from being 3-5 down, Carter took the first frame, only to see his opponent taking the next two and restoring the previous "order". But the Captain was determined to make a difference in this match, so he put himself together and start potting those balls, by hitting in runs of 86, 112 and 115! A brilliant performance from the Essex-man, who was now in the lead 8-6.

...and neither is Dott

However, Dott works better under pressure and we’ve seen in from the previous match he played against Mark King, so all those scoring points that Carter had were going to be replaced one by one, by him. A break of 70 and he was getting closer at 8-7 and a beautiful 66 clearance and that marked the complete comeback and also the end of the second session, 8-8.
Dramatic and entertaining!


Last but not least, Mark Allen and Barry Hawking started their first session and also ended it on a 5-3 scorelin in favor of the Englishman.
If the first part of the session ended up on a tight 2-2, and continued after the mini-break with a 3-3, Barry used a top break of 71 as to cash the next two frames and get on board for the ride of his life, leading Allen 5-3.


Day eight will reveal to us three more names set to go on fighting in the quarter-finals:


10:00 (UK time)


14:30 (UK time)


19:00 (UK time)
*the last session


TV coverage: