Mark beats Ronnie 6-5 in Chengdu

Mark Williams finally ended his Ronnie O’Sullivan hoodoo as the Welshman secured his place in the International Championship semi-finals with a 6-5 victory in Chengdu.

Williams had lost eight consecutive ranking matches in a dozen years against the Rocket and his barren streak looked likely to continue when he trailed 3-0 in Chengdu. But Williams, who was rated a 300/1 outsider by some bookmakers before the tournament started, fought back to win a thrilling.

Williams is without a ranking title win since the 2011 German Masters and Mark Allen stands between him and a place in the final. The Northern Irishman made breaks of 84 and 76 as he came back from a 3-1 deficit to beat Michael White 6-3.

Williams will next face Mark Allen in the last four on Saturday after he also won five frames on the trot to come from 3-1 down to beat Michael White, notching breaks of 84, 76, 58 and 58 in that run.

The other semi-final will be contested on Friday by Robert Milkins and Ricky Walden after Milkins edged Marco Fu 6-5, while Walden easily defeated Jamie Burnett 6-1.And no more Chinese players left also after Marco Fu was defeated.