Mark Williams v Barry Hawkins live stream | European Masters 2022 preview
Williams and Hawkins vie for a place in Sunday’s showpiece (Imaginechina Limited / Alamy Stock Photo)
Mark Williams and Barry Hawkins face off in a battle of the left-handers for a place in the European Masters final.
A clash with Kyren Wilson awaits the winner of the second semi-final in Sunday’s showpiece at the Stadthalle in Furth.
Both players have been in dominant form this week; dropping just six frames to move to within two victories of claiming the second silverware of the season.
The head-to-head record certainly favours Williams, who has won seven of his previous eight meetings with Hawkins outside the Championship League, including that memorable 17-15 victory at this stage on the way to his 2018 Crucible triumph.
Meanwhile, a 6-4 victory at the 2018 Shanghai Masters represents the Hawk’s sole success during that span.
Williams has certainly capitalised on the huge let-off he experienced in qualifying, where he recovered from 4-2 down before producing a nerveless 62 clearance in the deciding frame to scrape past Liam Highfield on the final black.
After defeating Sanderson Lam (5-2) and Dominic Dale (5-3) earlier in the week, the three-time World champion then won 10 of 11 frames while making three centuries and a further six breaks over 50 as Zhou Yuelong and Jamie Jones were put to the sword 5-0 and 5-1 respectively.
Standing in his way of a 39th ranking final is a player seeking his ninth such appearance in Hawkins.
The world number 12 has enjoyed a timely return to form this week courtesy of his best performance since reaching last season’s Players Championship final, which has included a hugely impressive streak that saw him win 17 of a possible 18 frames.
Aaron Hill (5-2), Stuart Carrington (5-1) and Robert Milkins (5-0) were all dispatched along the way, before he produced a tremendous response to falling 3-2 behind against two-time champion Judd Trump in the quarter-finals; breaks of 129, 110 and 92 sealing a wonderful 5-3 victory.
Play gets underway at 7pm BST on Saturday with the match contested over the best of 11 frames at the Stadthalle in Furth.