Mark Williams whitewashes Jack Lisowski to reach first final at The Masters in 20 years

ByNigel Chiu

Published 14/01/2023 at 15:58 GMT

Three-time world champion Mark Williams thrashed Jack Lisowski 6-0 in the first semi-final of The Masters on Saturday. Williams smartly used his experience to tuck Lisowski up as the Englishman cracked under the pressure at the Alexandra Palace. Stream the 2023 Masters and more top snooker action live and on-demand on discovery+ and eurosport.co.uk.

Mark Williams whitewashed Jack Lisowski with a dominant display to reach his first final at The Masters since 2003.

Williams, who lost a thrilling semi-final to Neil Robertson 12 months ago, had the upper hand in the safety department and capitalised on errors from Lisowski.

He will play Judd Trump or Stuart Bingham in the final at the Alexandra Palace on Sunday.

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Lisowski had chances in the opening two frames but some poor shots meant Williams picked up the pieces to double his lead. Then, a great break of 74, mostly using blues and pinks, saw the three-time world champion go 3-0 up.

The crowd were really urging Lisowski on and he had his big opportunity in the fourth when Williams missed a difficult red to the middle after getting 36 points on the board.

All was going well until a lapse in concentration put Lisowski out of position when potting the black, with three reds on the table. The Englishman played safe with the score at 43-36 in his favour.

'Nightmare' for Lisowski as Williams sweeps into 4-0 lead

Williams potted a long red, which was a shot for nothing, and rolled up behind the yellow to get the upper hand in the safety exchange.

A mistake from Lisowski meant Williams was left with a comfortable long red which he slotted in and went on to take a 4-0 lead.

Any signs of a comeback quickly dwindled when Lisowski missed a yellow and Williams made a break of 68 to go one frame away from a place in the final.

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Lisowski was on a break of 13 when he potted the blue and split the pack. However, a red also dropped into the bottom right pocket which put Williams back at the table.

A rare miss from the Welshman gave Lisowski another chance as the end of the frame turned into another safety battle with three reds left.

Williams went for a tough red and left Lisowski with a great chance to win his first frame. However, he ran out of position when trying to get on the final brown with the scores at 36-29 in his favour.

One minute later, the match was done as Williams potted the brown, blue and pink to give himself a chance of winning a third Masters title on Sunday.

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Stream the 2023 Masters and more top snooker action live and on-demand on discovery+ and eurosport.co.uk.

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