Betfair Masters: Mark Selby races into semi-finals with win over Mark Williams
Mark Selby thrashed Mark Williams 6-1 to book a semi-final showdown with Graeme Dott at the Betfair Masters.
Last Updated: 18/01/13 11:39pm
The world number one from Leicester never looked back after winning each of the first four frames at Alexandra Palace on Friday evening.
Williams had his chances in all four, but, despite hitting back in frame five, the Welshman could not prevent a heavy defeat.
"It was a strange game, I was 3-0 up when I could have been 3-0 down," Selby told worldsnooker.com.
"Mark was nowhere near his best and I found it hard to get focused. He gifted me frames and I picked up the pieces."
Selby, who came back from 5-1 down to edge past Stuart Bingham in the second round, took advantage of some sloppy safety play to edge a tight opening frame that lasted 42 minutes.
Williams overturned a 4-1 deficit to beat Stevens and looked set to level proceedings tonight but missed an easy red to hand the initiative to Selby, who duly doubled his lead.
The world number one took advantage of some more lapse safety play from Williams - albeit after Selby had taken control of the table after fluking the yellow - to clear from green to black.
Despite taking a three-frame lead, Selby's highest break to that point was a meagre 28.
However, he continued to show heart for the battle and remained on course to whitewash his opponent as a break of 48 helped him to a 4-0 lead at the interval.
Williams did at least manage to stop the rot in yet another tight frame before Selby put himself one frame away from victory with a break of 73.
He needed two visits to the table to make sure of victory and he will need to step up his performance levels if he is to claim a third Masters crown.
