GWENT’S Mark Williams waltzed through to the quarter-finals of the BetVictor Welsh Open snooker with a superb 4-1 win over Judd Trump.
The Cwm potter was far too good for the world number six to revive hopes of a first home winner of the tournament since he beat Stephen Hendry in 1999.
But Williams is focused more on ranking points as he looks to secure his place in the world’s top 16 ahead of the World Championships in April.
“I’m very pleased because he’s one of the top players in the world and I outplayed him in most departments,” said the 39-year-old.
“It’s an extra £5,000 for me in the rankings and hopefully I can keep on winning.
“I don’t look at winning tournaments at the moment but there’s only eight players left now so I don’t see why not.”
Williams will face Marco Fu in the last eight at 1pm on Friday after the Hong Kong star beat Carmarthen's Matthew Stevens 4-2 tonight.
The biggest shock of the day saw Belgian teenager Luca Brecel knock out world champion Mark Selby.
The Belgian Bullet, who doesn’t turn 20 until next month, edged a high quality contest 4-3 after coming back from 2-0 down.
Brecel said: “I showed a lot of bottle in that game, Mark played one of his best matches in the tournament. But he was probably thinking I would be afraid of him.
“To be 2-0 down in a best of seven and come back shows the hard work is paying off.
“It is very satisfying and the best win and performance of my life.
“I am really delighted with the way I have played and I believe I can win the tournament – but I will have to be very sharp to do that.”
Selby, who made breaks of 131 and 114, believes Brecel is a player with a big future.
“With best of seven there are going to be lots of shocks, as we’ve seen this week,” said Selby.
“I didn’t really do that much wrong and I can’t be too harsh on myself because I probably missed two balls in the match and got beat 4-3.
“He is a little bit like Judd when he first came on the scene.
“If he plays well he can blow you away but the way he plays he can lose to people he shouldn’t do.
“But he’s not going to change the way he plays and that’s why he’s so dangerous.”
John Higgins, Welsh Open champion in 2000, 2010 and 2011, also eased into the last eight with a 4-2 victory over Michael Georgiou.
And 2013 winner Stephen Maguire whitewashed Alan McManus 4-0 but 2009 champion Ali Carter was beaten 4-2 by Ben Woolaston.
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