Mark Williams has hit back at Ronnie O'Sullivan's criticism of snooker's younger players, calling it 'a bit naughty' after losing their thrilling World Championship quarter-final 13-10 on Tuesday. The world number three, speaking to BBC Sport, acknowledged O'Sullivan's greatness but argued that it was unfair to judge everyone by his standards.
'I understand what he was saying that the standard's no good, but that's compared to him,' Williams said. 'He's including me in that. There's no one on the tour that's as good as him, but it's unfair to class everyone else in his standards ... for him to have a go at the lower-ranked players I think is a bit naughty.'
O'Sullivan fought back from 6-2 and 8-4 down to defeat Williams in a high-quality contest, setting up a semi-final against Mark Selby. After the match, O'Sullivan compared himself to Diego Maradona, saying his natural ability was keeping him in the tournament. 'I'm not hard on myself, I'm a realist,' he said. 'What I'm good at I'm unbelievably good at: my scoring, my break-building, my positional play.'
Selby, who will face O'Sullivan in a repeat of the 2014 final, admitted he had questioned his own future after a crisis of confidence following his third world title in 2017. 'Over the last 12 to 18 months I was questioning myself,' he said. 'I had got so used to winning tournaments then when I wasn't winning it became very damaging to my confidence.'
Defending champion Judd Trump was knocked out 13-9 by Kyren Wilson, becoming the 18th player to suffer the 'Crucible curse' where no first-time winner has retained the crown since 1977. Trump backed Wilson to go on and win the title, saying: 'If Kyren plays like that he will be very tough to stop.'
In the other semi-final, qualifier Anthony McGill will face Wilson after beating Kurt Maflin 13-10. The Norwegian, who had impressed in earlier rounds, could not replicate that form and trailed 7-1 going into Tuesday's final sessions.
