Snooker: Epic comeback! Williams evaporates 5-1 lead to reach English Open final

Every night has been more epic than the last at the snooker English Open, with games going to a decider on both Thursday and Friday. Saturday night somehow managed to top it all.

The first semi-final of the day between Ali Carter and Ding Junhui was closed out by Carter without a hitch 6-2. The second semi-final between Shaun Murhpy and Mark Williams looked to be going the same way, with Murphy quickly establishing a 4-0 lead.

Welshman Williams seemed lost on the felt, with nearly every single positional shot going astray. Murphy wasn't exactly at his best either, although a century break of 128 and a steal from 16-62 down were impressive.

The slugfest of a match finally went to 5-1, with Murphy needing just a solitary frame to secure his spot in the final tomorrow. However, Williams managed to eke out his biggest break of the match of 61 to stay alive for just a bit longer.

Next came the turning point: Murphy missing a routine black from the spot while already leading 61-5. Now it was Williams' turn to steal a frame, and with the next frame going to the Welshman as well, the game was well and truly back on at 5-4.

Another big lead of 52-0 was squandered by Murphy, and suddenly a decider had become reality. A nervy start in it was transformed into some snooker magic by Williams, as he rode the momentum of a long red to start building a break.

The crowd was rising to the occasion, with each difficult pot and pack-breaking positional shot drawing louder and louder cries of elation. When the break finally ended with a miss on the corner pocket, the crowd celebrated as if it had gone in - such was the assurance Williams had built with his fabulous potting during the break.

This meant that Murphy got a chance to chase a 72-8 deficit, but his struggles were quickly put to bed with another shot from distance by "The Welsh Potting Machine", who had now completed the monumental comeback from 5-1 down and earned his spot in the final.

- I was really bailed out of jail there. At 4-0 down I was already thinking that at this rate I'll be able to catch the boxing match tonight, but I kept on fighting. You only win 1 out of 1000 matches like this, but this was my one in a thousand night, Williams told TNT Sports after his heroics.

Murphy meanwhile had already complained about equipment trouble during the tournament, but also showed some great respect to his opponent:

- This is a hard loss to take, of course I'm disappointed. It's time for this tip to go, I'm actually kind of relieved that I don't have to play with this anymore. The word legend gets thrown around a lot these days, but he (Williams) is a true legend, and that's why he won today, Murphy explained his feelings.

The English Open final between Ali Carter and Mark Williams begins tomorrow at 1pm British time.

Below are the results from the English Open semi-finals.







Source: TNT Sports