Home favourite Mark Williams reached the last 16 of the 2026 Welsh Open with a 4-1 defeat of Martin O’Donnell on Wednesday.
The two-time former champion wasn’t in peak form but was able to take advantage of a poor display from his opponent in Llandudno.
Williams compiled breaks of 60, 58, and 57 to comfortably reach the next round of the season’s last Home Nations tournament, although he did admit that both players struggled with the main table’s cushions.
“I thought I played alright,” Williams, who won the Xi’an Grand Prix earlier in the campaign, told the BBC afterwards.
“The conditions were tough – it was flying off the cushions. You had to try to make breaks while not hitting a cushion, and the game is already hard enough.”
“It was really difficult. When the cue ball is coming off two or three times quicker than when it’s going on, it’s difficult to get in good position.
“So you have to try to make as many as you can without hitting the cushions. All of a sudden, you start decelerating on a few.
“He missed a few there and let me off the hook a bit, but overall I thought I played alright. I made a good break in the last frame.”
Williams hasn’t reached the latter stages of the Welsh Open since 2021 when he made a run to the last four, and you have to go all the way back to 2003 for the last time he reached the final.
In fact, that’s the last time any Welsh player contested the title-deciding bout with Williams’ two victories in the tournament transpiring in 1996 and 1999.
The world number four believes that the Venue Cyrmu, which has boasted big crowds so far this week, deserves to have a Welsh player challenge for the Ray Reardon Trophy.
“I’m still in it, and the last 16 is the furthest I’ve gone in a while,” Williams continued. “But the crowd is fantastic, and it’s a great arena.”
“When the wind’s not blowing, there’s a good walk out the front as well. It’s one of the best venues we play in really.
“It’s always supported. Even at 10 o’clock in the morning, there’s 500 people in there, and you don’t get that in many comps these days.
“It’s a great place to play and hopefully, if it’s not me, one of the Welsh boys can get to the final. That’s all we miss in this tournament – a Welshman to pick up the trophy.”
Also through to the last 16 is Cwmbran’s Jak Jones, who similarly tallied three half-century contributions in a 4-2 triumph over Anthony McGill.
Dylan Emery bowed out, however, following a 4-1 reverse to David Grace while Jackson Page is in action against Chang Bingyu on Wednesday afternoon.
Williams, meanwhile, will face Barry Hawkins for a quarter-final berth on Thursday.
The full draw is available at Snooker.org.
Featured photo credit: WST
