Snooker star Mark Williams was left stunned by a rare refereeing blunder made during his victory over Jimmy Robertson in the quarter-finals of the Saudi Arabian Masters.
The 49-year-old cruised into the final four of the competition to set up a clash with Si Jiahui, with Shaun Murphy facing off against Judd Trump in the other semi-final.
However, it wasn’t all smooth sailing for Williams on Thursday. Whilst leading 5-0, the Welshman brilliantly potted the black in a shot which led to a moment of madness from referee Leo Scullion.
After the white ball had come to a stop, the referee bizarrely intervened to pick it up and put it on the spot reserved for the black ball.
Scullion had of course intended to place the black ball there, forgetting that it had just been potted.
As he picked up the white, Williams exclaimed: “Woah, woah, what are you doing?” It took Scullion just a matter of seconds to recognise his mistake, and the referee promptly attempted to right the wrongs of his error.
He spoke at length with the three-time world champion to determine where he would put the white back on the table. Scullion could be heard asking Williams if he was ‘happy’ with where he believed the white should be positioned.
The blip did not derail Williams’ title charge though, and he secured the final set to claim an emphatic 6-0 victory. However, despite the nature of the win, he was not overly pleased with his dominant performance against Robertson.
Speaking after his success, which saw him earn £100,000 in prize money, Williams said: “I didn’t play great and Jimmy struggled a bit, but to win 6-0 in a quarter-final is unbelievable.
“My aim was to be in the top 16 when I’m 50 and this so far has put me in good stead and I’m probably going to get my achievement. Anyone can win when they’re playing well.
“It’s really hard to scrape through victories when you’re not playing so well. I mean, if I did win this (tournament) somehow, I probably wouldn’t even pick my cue up until Christmas time because there’s no need.”
