Mark Williams: 'Ronnie O'Sullivan is the greatest of all time, there is no longer any debate'
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Updated 23/11/2017 at 00:38 GMT
Mark Williams was almost forced to pull out of the Northern Ireland Open in Belfast with his wife Jo battling suspected viral meningitis.
Mark Williams in action in Belfast.
Image credit: Eurosport
But the two-times world champion received a welcome boost with news that she had been discharged from hospital on Wednesday meaning he did not need to withdraw.
Williams will face Akani Songsermsawad on Thursday for a place in the last 16 aiming to replicate the form he pieced together with breaks of 92, 78 and 113 dismantling Tom Ford 4-0 in the second round.
Williams is 14th in the provisional ranking list and joins fellow icons John Higgins and Ronnie O'Sullian in the last 32 in Belfast. He believes O'Sullivan is the greatest player in the history of the sport ahead of seven-times world champion Stephen Hendry.
The class of '92 are also inside the top 16 with John Higgins fifth on the provisional list and all three likely to be at the Masters event in January.
"The golden oldies are still going, but they've been going for a while. Even growing up, they have been in a different league to me," said Williams.
They are still winning tournaments. Just to go through the qualifiers with them is good enough, and to manage to win the tournaments I have with those two around, and Hendry..it makes me a little bit proud because it is hard to get any tournaments off them.
"Just look at them now. If Ronnie turns up, he wins them now and he was like that back in the day.
"To win any tournaments off them is hard. It was a lot harder then. I don't think Ronnie is better today than he was 10 or 20 years ago.
"His temperament is better than what it was, but he misses a lot more balls than he used to. He just doesn't let it affect him any more.
"He is just dangerous. If he had this kind of attitude years ago, he would be on 10 or 12 world championships by now.
He is that good. Everyone now knows he is the best ever. Some people might have thought Hendry was the best, but you can't say that no more.
"I've always said World Snooker should come up with a deal that suits him because he doesn't just benefit..we all do.
"If he's not in a tournament, there is hardly anyone watching. If he is there, it is packed.
"I think Ronnie deserves appearance money because we all benefit from it."
Williams is relieved that his wife is recovering from her illness that hit her during his trip to the Shanghai Masters.
"She was still in hospital, but she is back home so I stay in Belfast," said Williams.
"She has been ill for a while so we are trying to get to the bottom of what is wrong. The doctors think it is viral meningitis at the moment.
"I've got a little bit of confidence in my game at the moment. It is getting close to the Masters, and I want to get back there."
Elsewhere, Jimmy White moved into the last 32 with a 4-0 win over Jak Jones, but home favourite Mark Allen is out after suffering a 4-3 loss to Tian Pengfei.
NORTHERN IRELAND OPEN LAST 64 RESULTS
- Mark King 4-1 Ashley Hugill
- Jamie Curtis-Barrett 0-4 Yan Bingtao
- Robert Milkins 4-1 Oliver Lines
- Yu De Lu 3-4 Nappon Saengkham
- Thepchaiya Un-Nooh 4-3 Chen Zifan
- Anthony McGill 4-1 Adam Duffy
- Mei Xi Wen 4-1 Alex Borg
- Elliot Slessor 4-2 Kurt Maflin
- Mark Williams 4-0 Tom Ford
- Neil Robertson 4-0 Billy Joe Castle
- Zhou Yuelong 1-4 Robin Hull
- Liam Highfield 4-1 Liang Wenbo
- Yuan Sijun 1-4 Lyu Haotian
- Zhang Yong 0-4 Li Yuan
- Ali Carter 1-4 Xiao Guodong
- Akani Songsermsawad 4-3 Wang Yuchen
- Tom Ford 0-4 Mark Williams
- Ricky Walden 4-2 Jack Lisowski
- Niu Zhuang 1-4 Ken Doherty
- Duane Jones 0-4 Ronnie O'Sullivan
- Mike Dunn 4-0 Matthew Stevens
- Ben Woollaston 2-4 Sam Craigie
- Michael Georgiou 2-4 Michael Holt
- Jimmy Robertson 4-3 Zhao Xintong
- Matthew Selt 0-4 Joe Perry
- Ryan Day 4-3 Li Hang
- Mark Allen 3-4 Tian Pengfei
- Fang Xiongman 1-4 Chris Wakelin
- Jimmy White 4-0 Jak Jones
- David Gilbert 4-2 Paul S Davison
- Ross Muir 4-2 Stuart Carrington
- John Higgins 4-1 Hossein Vafaei
- Stephen Maguire 0-4 Gary Wilson
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