Yesterday in Belfast offered the fans some excellent entertaining snooker, and although, personally I would have preferred some of them going and ending differently, I thoroughly enjoyed watching the matches on offer..
Mark Williams once again demonstrated his extraordinary longevity with a proper demolition of Martin O’Donnell. What’s his secret? Probably the fact that he successfully manages not to put pressure on himself while staying highly competitive at the same time. It’s not an easy thing to do.
Sam Craigie beat Matthew Selt 4-2 at the BetVictor Northern Ireland Open to reach the quarter-finals of a ranking event for the first time since a serious neck injury which could have ended his career.
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Craigie suffered a slipped disc in his upper spine in 2024 which required major surgery and left him unable to compete in tournaments for ten months. He admitted he feared he might have to quit snooker but fortunately was able to return to the pro tour and has now made a full recovery.
The 32-year-old Tynesider has since climbed back to 72nd in the world and hopes this week could be another breakthrough. A near-flawless display today in Belfast, highlighted by breaks of 108, 96, 100 and 79 earned him a fourth ranking quarter-final appearance. He’ll face Elliot Slessor on Friday in a North East derby and victory would put Craigie into the semi-finals for only the second time, and first since the 2024 German Masters.
“This week my performances have been very good,” he said. “I’ve played consistently well in every round. I’m playing with a new cue. I’ve had quite a few over the last two seasons, but with this one I haven’t played a bad match yet.
“I have to say thank you to Stuart Green at Green Baize because whenever I don’t feel right, I can just walk into the shop and try out cues, and usually I walk out with a new one. I think this might be the one. I’m also back working with Chris Henry, remembering what I was doing when I worked with him before my surgery.
“You can jump up the rankings with one good tournament and get into the Players Series, then you feel like a more established player. Hopefully this can be my week. The only difference with the top players is that they do it in almost every tournament, everyone else can play to a very high level on their day.“
World number 23 Slessor battled to a 4-1 win over Ricky Walden with a top break of 65, reaching his 12th ranking quarter-final and first since the 2025 English Open. “I am trying to find my game this week, I have had problems with my tip,” said Slessor. “It’s not performing how I want it to but I can’t change it now before the next game. I’m delighted to win today, you just have to stick in there because every day is different.“
Kyren Wilson, one of only two top-16 ranked players in the field alongside Mark Williams, may be considered favourite for the title after edging out Pang Junxu 4-3 in a high quality contest. If Wilson beats Anthony McGill tomorrow he will be into his first ranking semi-final since he won the Players Championship in March 2025.
A break of 70 gave him the opening frame today then Pang replied with a 108. The next two frames were shared before Wilson’s 92 made it 3-2. In frame six, China’s Pang was on course for a 147 until he missed a tricky 13th black on 97. Wilson, who won this title two years ago, then took the decider with an excellent 94.
McGill beat Mateusz Baranowski 4-1 to set up a repeat of his epic 2020 Crucible clash with Wilson. The Glaswegian top scored with 95 today as he earned a 28th ranking quarter-final and first since he reached the final of the British Open a year ago.
Scott Donaldson reached his first ranking event quarter-final in six years as he ended hopes of a home winner at the BetVictor Northern Ireland Open by beating local favourite Jordan Brown 4-2.
Donaldson enjoyed the best spell of his career between 2017 and 2020 when he appeared in four ranking semi-finals as well as winning the invitational Championship League, but since then the 32-year-old has struggled to produce deep runs. However the Scot did knock Zhao Xintong out of the recent Shenzhen Open on his way to the last 16 and has carried that momentum into the tournament in Belfast this week.
Tonight’s tie with Antrim’s Brown was a tough battle with an average frame time of 31 minutes, but world number 64 Donaldson fought his way to the winning post, making a vital break of 47 in the sixth frame which was his highest of the match.
“I really like Jordan and it’s probably not nice to go out of a match like that, but I had a job to do and I managed to get over the line,” said the Perth cueman. “I don’t feel overly confident at the moment. My game is solid enough but I’ve still got too many errors in it, so I’m sort of fudging my way through matches right now. You just have to keep practising and hope it gets better. When I feel good, I’m really good, but when I’m bad, I’m all over the place.
“Since the pandemic, I haven’t really hit the heights I reached before Covid. There are various reasons for that which I’m not going to go into, but it’s a tough sport. There are so many good players nowadays and I’m not a real top player, so I need to play 110 per cent to have any chance of beating someone like Jordan. I just like playing snooker.
“I’m looking forward to playing Jak Jones. He’s been playing really well and I congratulated him on winning the British Open when I saw him in the practice room. He’s become a real top player now, so I’ll need to play my very best to have any chance of getting a result.”
Jones is just three wins away from a third ranking title of the season having landed the Championship League and British Open. He got the better of a Welsh derby against Daniel Wells tonight by a 4-2 scoreline. World number 24 Jones took a 60-minute opening frame and added the next two for 3-0, before Wells battled back to 3-2 with a top break of 63. Frame six came down to the last red and Jones converted a mid-range pot to a baulk corner to set up the winning chance.
Mark Williams reached the 124th ranking quarter-final of his career by beating Martin O’Donnell 4-0 with a top break of 127. The highest ranked player in the field at eighth in the world, Williams is just three matches away from extending his own record as the oldest winner of a ranking title, set a year ago when he landed the Xi’an Grand Prix at the age of 50 years and 206 days.
Reflecting on tonight’s result the Welshman said: “There were a couple of close frames, especially the first one as Martin could have nicked it. I played OK, missed a few and potted some good ones, that’s what I do. I just try to enjoy it especially with a fantastic crowd like that.“
Williams now meets David Gilbert, who ended the run of giant-killer Ka Wai Cheung with a 4-2 victory. Hong Kong’s Cheung, ranked 110th, had knocked out Ronnie O’Sullivan and Stuart Bingham but could not keep his career-best week going. Gilbert, who compiled runs of 85 and 56, continues his strong start to the season as he was runner-up in the Championship League and reached the quarter-finals of the China Open.