Williams stays in front
Mark Williams continued to set the pace in his Betfred.com World Championship semi-final against John Higgins this morning.
Resuming with a 9-7 lead in the best-of-33-frames match, Welshman Williams twice had his lead trimmed to a single frame but on each occasion hit straight back.
After four frames of the third session, Williams held an 11-9 advantage, needing six more to reach his fourth Crucible final. The match concludes this evening.
Williams, the 1999 runner-up and champion of 2000 and 2003, began the session with a run of 44 but Higgins then bossed the remainder of the frame.
Having trailed 9-5 at one stage yesterday, he took a third consecutive frame to make three-time winner Williams worry.
The 36-year-old from Cwm dug in though and made a break of 70 to restore his cushion, only for Higgins to again narrow the gap.
Luck deserted the 35-year-old Scot in the final frame before the mid-session interval when he looked to have played a clever safety, snookering Williams behind the blue.
However, he had not accounted for a red coming back off the top cushion and running into the blue, leaving Williams with a short pot to the centre pocket. The frame was soon over.
