Dott Edges Williams
World championship finalist, Graeme Dott continued where he left off last season as he edged past Wales’ Mark Williams by five-frames-to-four in the Shanghai Masters.
Two-time world champion, Williams, was the bookies pre-match favourite but Dott started the better and opened up a 3-1 interval lead.
Williams appeared to be struggling with the humid conditions, and lack of speed in the cloth. The frustration appeared to get the better of his usually calm temperament, as he swiped the balls to concede the fourth.
After the interval, it was Dott’s turn to struggle as he missed chances in fames five and six to allow Williams to level the scores.
The Scot regained the lead in the next with a break of 61, before Williams forced a decider with the highest break of the match, a timely and well-constructed 83.
In the final-frame, there was no tense safety battle, as Dott continued his assault back up the rankings with a clinical 70 break to advance to quarter-final stages where he will face either local hero, Ding Junhui or Jamie Cope.
On the other televised table, Allister Carter won the Battle of Essex against Stuart Bingham.
Carter led 2-0 without Bingham troubling the scorers, but after opening his account in the third, the world number 29 drew level with a break of 76.
Carter went ahead again in the fifth with a run of 58 before his opponent was on level terms again at 3 apiece.
Carter, who is up to number four in the world asserted his authority in the seventh with a break of 72 and clinched a place in the last eight in the next.
He awaits the winner of the match between Shaun Murphy and Matthew Stevens for a place in Saturday’s semi-final.
