Four Ton Williams Incredib-Lee Loses To Stephen
Mark Williams incredibly made four centuries in his opening match at this year’s Bank of Beijing China Open and yet still found himself on the wrong side of a 5-4 scoreline against Stephen Lee.
The current world number-two could make a claim for the nickname ‘Whirlwind Williams’, having noticeably speeded up his game and making all four century breaks in under eight minutes.
The Welshman opened with runs of 100 and 113 to lead by two-frames-to-nil before the Wiltshire player levelled at the interval with matching runs of 86.
When they returned it was the former world number three who went ahead for the first time in the match helped by a 52 break.
Williams responded though, with a 104 to level at 3-3 and followed with a superb 137 to move within one frame of victory and a match against either Ronnie O’Sullivan or a dress rehearsal of next month’s Crucible date with Ryan Day.
Lee was having none of it though and levelled at four-apiece settling for a highest of 48.
Early in the decider, Lee was frustrated by a ‘turn’ in the table when playing a slow escape from a snooker with the cue-ball rolling off three times from its intended course and missing the target.
Williams eventually created an opening and added a 53 break to his earlier heavy scoring. Only five reds on the cushion prevented the defending champion from joining O’Sullivan as the only player to record five centuries in a best-of-nine frame match.
A couple of safety shots later and three of the reds were in the open and a missed safety from Williams allowed Lee to eat into the 59-point deficit.
He took the reds each with blacks, playing into the two remaining reds and moving them both into potable positions.
Knowing the enormity of what he was about to achieve, Lee was cautious in clearing the table but managed to hold his nerve and close out the match with a superb 61 clearance to win a match which 1986 world champion described as ‘possibly the best match I have ever seen’.
Elsewhere, Mark Davis matched Williams’ 137 to close out victory against Stephen Maguire, repeating the Sussex-man’s win against the Scot in Shanghai last September.
Gerard Greene and Robert Milkins completed a very satisfying morning for Paul Mount’s On Q management stable as they both progressed through the wildcard round against Rouzi Maimaiti and Yu Delu respectively.
