Scottish Open Snooker 2023: Sam Craigie stuns Mark Williams with incredible comeback, Mark Selby advances in Edinburgh
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Updated 11/12/2023 at 19:25 GMT
Sam Craigie produced what will go down as one of the best comebacks in recent years, after recovering from 3-0 down to win 4-3 against the three-time world champion, Mark Williams. The Welshman looked to be easing his way into the second round at 3-0 up, but Craigie fought back in style to post a huge win. Mark Selby also advanced to the second round with a win over Sean O'Sullivan.
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Sam Craigie claimed a stunning Scottish Open first-round victory over Mark Williams, after recovering from 3-0 down to claim a sensational 4-3 win.
It was a Herculean effort from the Englishman, who overturned the deficit in just under 44 minutes to complete a first career win over Williams in some style.
After an end-to-end opening frame with early mistakes for both players, Williams seized the advantage to prevail 62-49.
Craigie was performing well and more than holding his own against the world No. 8, but frustratingly slipped further behind with Williams doing just about enough.
Despite laying a couple of awkward-looking snookers for Williams, the Welshman landed a long green and cleared his way up to the blue, clinching another cagey frame in the process.
It looked like Craigie had worked himself an opportunity to halve the deficit when Williams missed a black off its spot, but could not punish him for the error following a missed red to the middle pocket.
Williams then failed to capitalise, allowing the world No. 52 to return to the table needing a snooker, which did not materialise, as the Welshman expertly fired in a long red from centre to the left corner to go 3-0 ahead.
However, any hopes Williams had of completing a whitewash victory were extinguished when Craigie hit an impressive 95 in the highest break of the match up to this point.
He fell just short of a century with a missed pink to the right corner, as a pack of reds opened up kindly for the 29-year-old.
The fifth frame was looking like a formality for Williams, but complacency was perhaps creeping into his game after running into the pack off the blue.
A safety battle ensued, but Craigie showed his fighting qualities to reduce Williams’ lead to one again following a solid clearance of 64.
Williams was seeing the match disappear in front of his eyes, as Craigie sealed a third frame in a row to set up a deciding seventh frame.
And after breaking the pack and leaving the reds in prime positions, a big upset looked like a strong possibility.
Craigie progressed to take it in some style, claiming a fantastic break of 126 and clearing up to the pink after potting what looked like a tricky red.
His reward for an incredible victory is a second-round clash against Yuan Sijun.
Elsewhere, Mark Selby worked quietly to ease past Sean O'Sullivan as he bids to win the tournament for the third time.
Selby, who won back-to-back Scottish Opens in 2019 and 2020, beat O'Sullivan 4-2 to book his spot in the second round.
O'Sullivan gained a 2-1 lead but a match-high break of 88 from Selby sparked a three-frame flurry to close out the tie and set up a meeting with Matthew Stevens.
Shaun Murphy slumped to a shock 4-1 defeat at the hands of 75th-ranked Liu Hongyu.
The world No. 7 trailed to a rapid three-frame deficit before pulling one back, but succumbed to a decisive fourth frame from Liu.
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It was victory for top ten player Ali Carter, who pipped Long Zehuang to a spot in the second round.
The 44-year-old knocked in a second-frame century on his way to a 4-3 victory.
Ding Junhui blitzed through his test against David Grace and rattled off four consecutive frames without reply, with breaks of 88 and 103.
World champion Luca Brecel was in as devastating form as Ding, comfortably beating Iulian Boiko 4-0.
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