Snooker: McCulloch flies into final

Ian McCulloch, the world No 47 from Preston, was undaunted by either big name or occasion as he converted his debut world ranking semi-final to an appearance in today's British Open final with a 6-3 win over the world No 2, Mark Williams, at Telford.

"He played excellently. I can't fault him really. He'll win the final if he plays like that," said Williams.

Having taken the opening frame with a composed 65, McCulloch embarked on a sequence of 372 unanswered points including breaks of 100, 43, 66 and 80 to lead 4-0 and 68 to leave Williams needing to snooker in the fifth – which he did, before winning on the black. Undeterred, McCulloch opened with a 57 in the sixth but, admirably composed, Williams's 67 saw him recover to 2-4.

McCulloch shaded the seventh only for Williams, with a cool 72, to reduce his arrears to 5-3. The Preston left-hander then made 56 to reach the final against either Paul Hunter or Chris Small.

McCulloch's ranking would be higher but for losing an inordinate number of 5-4s in his 10-year career, but seeing Graham Slater, a sports psychologist, appears to have helped. "It wasn't as if I crabbed a 4-0 lead," said McCulloch, who achieved an exceptionally high 98 per cent success rate for pots attempted. "I promise you I woke up this morning and knew I was going to win. My game's as good as it's ever been in practice and now it's coming through in matches."

Three years after his only previous world-ranking quarter-final, McCulloch eliminated the defending champion, John Higgins, 5-2 on Friday.

Higgins, a fervent Celtic supporter, later admitted that he expected his wife to question his decision to travel to Ewood Park on Thursday evening for the Uefa Cup triumph over Blackburn Rovers. "John gave himself a late night. I had a ticket and didn't go," said McCulloch.

Higgins as much as agreed. "I didn't give Ian enough respect," he admitted. "You just think you are the better player."

The rankings agree, but on Friday he was not and no future opponent of McCulloch's, on the basis of this week's performances, will make a similar mistake.