Snooker: Lucky Williams stays in title hunt

Mark Williams admitted he was ''very lucky,'' to remain in the hunt for his third Regal Welsh Open title in five years after scraping into the semi-finals at Cardiff International Arena this afternoon.

The 25-year-old world champion, already winner of the Grand Prix this season and runner-up in three other tournaments, sailed close to the wind before scoring a 5-4 victory over stubborn Scot Alan McManus.

And Williams later revealed that an over-zealous spectator had almost cost him dear by shouting out at a critical stage of the decider.

Williams, who opened the scoring in the all important ninth frame with a well crafted run of 65 was just about to pot another red when a member of the audience said loudly: ''Well done, you’re safe now.''

In fact there was six reds, and therefore 75 points still on the table and when Williams missed, McManus had the chance to nick it.

''I don’t know the bloke’s name but I know who he is,'' said Williams.

''He’s an amateur referee here in Wales and what happened really took me off.''

Fortunately for Williams, McManus could not take advantage. Just when it appeared as though the former Benson & Hedges Masters champion was about to complete a stunning fightback he missed a vital red to a middle pocket.

Williams, who has now reached the semi-finals of eight of the last nine world ranking events, appeared to be cruising through when he including runs of 59, 68 and, in the fifth frame, a 35 clearance to pink, for a 4-1 lead.

But McManus launched his revival with a superb 140 total clearance in frame six. It was the highest break of the tournament’s televised phase, overtaking Marco Fu’s 139, and installs the Glaswegian as front-runner for the £35,000 bonus.

Breaks of 51 and 44 enabled McManus to draw level at 4-4 but Williams just held on to set up a meeting with Ken Doherty or Stephen Hendry.

McManus was .

''In my own mind I thought I was going to clear up pretty easily. I was really relaxed, like playing in a practise session at home, so it’s a shame.''

By going a round further than John Higgins, surprisingly beaten 5-1 by Stephen Lee in the morning quarter-final, Williams increased his already overwhelming lead at the head of the provisional world rankings.

He could well guarantee the world number one spot next season at next month’s Thailand Masters in Bangkok - even though the Regal Scottish Masters and Embassy World Championship follow that.