Rotterdam Open

Mark Williams scooped his first ranking title in over two years as he defeated Mark Selby 4-3 in the inaugural Rotterdam Open final. The last title Williams won was the 2011 German Masters but an assured performance in the final saw him win the first professional tournament to be held in the Netherlands for over 20 years.

The Welshman won the opening frame but Selby hit back tow in the next two, with a top break of 136 in the second. Runs of 51 and 67 put Williams back into the lead but Selby forced a decider with a break of 77 in the sixth. Selby had the first chance in the opener but could only make one. He attempted to snooker Williams behind the yellow but left a pot on and the two-time World Champion went onto compile a break of 65, which was eventually enough to win the match and tournament.

The victory will come as sweet news to Williams who recently dropped out of the top-16, meaning he’ll probably have to qualify for the upcoming Shanghai Masters and recently announced Indian Open tournaments.

Earlier in the day, he’d come from 3-1 down to defeat Gary Wilson 4-3, who had an excellent run to the semis. Newcastle’s Wilson had hit runs of 61 and 58 to go within a frame of victory but Williams won the last three with high breaks of 71 and 63 to progress. In the other semi, Selby came from 2-0 behind, to beat Dave Gilbert 4-3, making a break of 111 in the final frame.

World number 97 Wilson had earlier recorded victories over Jamie Cope and Joe Swail before defeating Mark Davis 4-3, after earlier trailing 3-2, to reach his first ever ranking semi-final.

The other stand-out scoreline from the quarter-finals was Gilbert’s fine 4-1 victory over Stephen Maguire. This was Maguire’s first tournament after deciding to sit the first few out and although he won the opener on the last black, Gilbert took the next four on the trot to knock him out.

The other two semi-finals saw Selby beat Martin Gould 4-3 with a top break of 115 whilst Williams beat Stuart Bingham 4-2.

Other players who had notable runs in the competition included Leeds’ David Grace, as the world number 89 reached the last 16 before being defeated 4-1 by Davis. Martin O’Donnell also reached the same stage after recording impressive victories over Robert Milkins and Marcus Campbell before being whitewashed by Bingham. Anthony McGill, Jimmy Robertson and Sam Baird also made it through to the last 16.

The highest break of the tournament was recorded by Matthew Selt, a 142 during his first round win over Peter Lines.