Mark Williams v Luca Brecel live stream | Riyadh Season Snooker Championship preview

Mark Williams goes head to head with Luca Brecel in the first of the Riyadh Season Snooker Championship semi-final showdowns on Friday.

Two former World champions lock horns at the Global Theatre in Boulevard City, with a final against either Ronnie O’Sullivan or Mark Allen for the winner to look forward to later in the day.

Both players are aiming to go one step better in Riyadh.

Brecel was a beaten finalist in the inaugural staging of this event in March, while Williams suffered an agonising 10-9 defeat against Judd Trump on the final black in September’s Saudi Arabia Snooker Masters.

Both also came through deciding frames on a thrilling day of quarter-final action.

Williams avenged that loss against Trump with a 4-3 victory over the world number one, during which he hit breaks of 101, 64, 86 and 68 – the latter despite inadvertently injuring his elbow while slipping.

The three-time Crucible king now looks to land his second silverware of the 2024-25 season, adding to his triumph at last month’s Champion of Champions.

Meanwhile, Brecel is enjoying a resurgence following a disappointing start to the campaign, and demonstrating the kind of form that fired him to glory in Sheffield 19 months ago.

The Belgian came flying out of the blocks in the Saudi capital; breaks of 62, 66, 100 and 120 completing a 4-0 whitewash of Zhang Anda.

He then recovered from 2-0 down to edge out reigning Crucible king Kyren Wilson 4-3 in a battle of the two most recent World champions.

The Bullet has prevailed in his last two encounters with Williams, though the Welshman does lead the overall head-to-head 5-2.

The match breaks off at 2pm GMT (5pm local time) on Friday, and will be contested over the best of seven frames at the Global Theatre in Boulevard City, Riyadh.

WATCH THE RIYADH SEASON CHAMPIONSHIP STREAMED LIVE

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