Here is WST report on day 2 at the 2024 World Grand Prix:

Life’s A Blur For Winning Williams

Mark Williams admits he is “guessing” shots and balls are “blurred” because of deteriorating eyesight, but he can look ahead to the last 16 of the Spreadex World Grand Prix thanks to a thrilling 4-3 win over Thepchaiya Un-Nooh.

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Welshman Williams turns 49 in two months and inevitably time is catching up with the three-time Crucible king, who is planning to give contact lenses a try. But he’s still ranked among the world’s top eight and has landed silverware already this season, at the British Open in September. And today’s exciting win over Un-Nooh, with seven frames played in just 81 minutes, sets up a second round tie with Hossein Vafaei. 

A break of 134 put Williams 2-1 ahead, then Thailand’s Un-Nooh levelled with a run of 53. In frame five, Un-Nooh was on track for a 147 until he went in-off when potting the black off the 13th red on 97. From 3-2 down, Williams conceded just one point in the last two frames, making vital breaks of 52 and 50.

“I can’t see much!” insisted veteran Williams. “When I am standing up it’s ok, then when I get down to the table most of the balls are blurred, especially the long ones. It’s a total guess. But I am guessing alright. I miss some of them by miles but I am also getting some of them. That’s the reason I haven’t looked further into what could be done. I will try contact lenses in a couple of weeks and see how that goes.   

“We both played well tonight, there weren’t many balls missed. He had a couple of half chances in the last frame and didn’t take them. My game is as good as it could be given my age at this stage of my career. I have won a tournament already this season and I’m more than happy with that.“

Having lifted the Masters trophy just two days ago, Ronnie O’Sullivan was back in action in front of a packed crowd and scored a 4-2 success against Pang Junxu. Breaks of 111, 70 and 95 helped O’Sullivan set up a match with Zhou Yuelong, who beat Stephen Maguire 4-1.

Shaun Murphy set a strong target for the £10,000 high break prize with a 145 total clearance in the opening frame of his match with John Higgins. Murphy went on to win 4-0 in just 41 minutes with further breaks of 77 and 70. 

“I have been playing well for a while now,” said Murphy, who would hold all three Players Series titles if he lands the trophy this week. “I was thinking about my game over Christmas and I felt I had gone a bit slow and lethargic, second guessing myself. My instinct to play shots with freedom is as good as anyone’s so I decided to play the first shot I see, play more flamboyant snooker and I am delighted with how that went today.

“In a way this event is more important than the Masters because there are ranking points, and that was the motivation for me to get up off the canvas after losing in the semi-finals last week. I have got three cracks left to make sure I am in the Players Championship, I want to be there to defend that title.” 

Ali Carter bounced back from the disappointment of losing the Masters final to O’Sullivan as he edged out Wu Yize 4-3. China’s Wu was just two pots from victory when he missed a tricky brown in the deciding frame, handing Carter the chance to pot brown, blue and pink for victory.

“Last week is in the past now and I have to focus on this week,” said Carter, who faces Mark Selby next. “I am proud of that win today because Wu played really well and he’ll be sick not to win the last frame – he had done all the hard work.“

Scottish Open champion Gary Wilson top scored with 78 in a 4-2 win over David Gilbert ,while Cao Yupeng trailed Barry Hawkins three times but eventually won 4-3.

Here are the scores of the Ronnie v Pang match … both went for it!

and the stats thanks to Kalacs

Some images, shared by WST and on Weibo

The end of the match shared by WST on YouTube:

Now some Ronnie updates …

Thanks to Mark for the videos in his last comment. Ronnie has confirmed that he will skip the 2024 German Masters and the 2024 Welsh Open, but he will try to qualify for Wuhan and will play in the ITV events. That’s good news.

Also, please check the comment by Aeltae. If you think that Ronnie was in the wrong about the venue, think again. This is the actual experience shared by a fan during the final. It’s not good, isn’t it? I have sent Aeltae’s comment “texto” to Matt Huart, who answered immediately and is forwarding it to the appropriate channels. I know that Matt is WPBSA, not WST, but I also know Matt personally, he’s a true fan of the game, we get along well and I 100% trust him to act on this… I don’t have the same trust in some others.