NANCHANG, China, Aug. 12 (Xinhua) -- World No. 3 Mark Williams came from 5-2 down to beat Noppon Saengkham 6-5 on Saturday in the semifinals of the 2018 Snooker World Open held in Yushan County, Jiangxi Province.
Williams, who recovered from a 3-0 deficit to beat Jack Lisowski on Friday, once again had to fight back from behind, but showed his calmness under pressure at the end of the match.
The first two frames were shared. Saengkham could have taken the third but missed the final brown, allowing Williams to snatch it by clearing to the black. A superb 142 total clearance - the highest break of the tournament so far - got Saengkham back to 2-2.
Saengkham then pulled three frames back to go 5-2 up. But williams became more aggressive to battle back to 5-5.
Both players missed chances early in the deciding frame, then the crucial moment came when Saengkham missed a safety shot leading 20-17. Williams made a crucial break of 34 to secure the victory.
"When I went 3-2 down everything went against me. He was the much better player and I found it hard to get a rhythm going," admitted Williams after the match.
"At 5-2 I just wanted to keep him under pressure. At 5-5 I fancied my chances because we were playing for 40,000 pounds for one frame and that's a lot of pressure so I knew he would start feeling it."
Williams will face David Gilbert on Sunday, who upset Barry Hawkins 6-4 in another semifinal match.
The week-long competition offers a total prize of 735,000 pounds with the champion pocketing 150,000 pounds.
