Rotterdam Open
DRAW & RESULTS
Mark Williams looks to have finally found some form after close to two years without a professional event victory, beating Mark Selby 4-3 to win the first Rotterdam Open (European Tour Event 2) in the Netherlands.
The two-times World Champion narrowly made it through his semi-final against David Gilbert 4-3 to set up a final against world no.2 Selby who himself beat Williams in the Welshman's last major final, the 2011 Shanghai Masters.
In another high quality encounter between the pair, it was Selby who got off to the best start, making a classy 136 break to win the second frame, followed by the next to take a 2-1 lead. Williams took the next two with runs of 51 and 67 to edge in front before Selby hit back with a 77 of his own to force the decider.
Both players had chances in the last frame, but it was Williams who grabbed his first, making a crucial 65 break to seal the match and win a well earned first professional trophy in nearly three years.
Williams follows fellow legend John Higgins in winning a European Tour event in the early stages of this season, who's not to say that the pair will be reaching the business end of many more tournaments in the months to come.
The Welshman could be one of the surprise packages in September's Shanghai Masters as he often produces his best in the Chinese tournaments. Check freebets.org/ for all the latest odds.
Since the 1991 European Open, there hasn't been a World Snooker tournament staged in the country and with all the coverage that the sport gets on EuroSport and online, there is a huge demand for an event in the country and it was great to see locals supporting it throughout.
Next up for some of the players is the World Games in Cali, Columbia. It's a kind-of Olympics for indoor and lesser known sports and will see Joe Perry, Nigel Bond and Liang Wenbo amongst others competing for the gold medal in the men's singles event. Check out the draw here.
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 Mark Williams - Rotterdam Open Champion 2013
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