Snooker: Surprise defeat for world No 1 Williams

Anthony Hamilton produced the shock of this year's World Championship when he inflicted a 13-9 defeat on the world No 1 Mark Williams in the second round yesterday. Hamilton always held the upper hand and the 30-year-old will now face Peter Ebdon in the quarter-finals today.

It was imperative that Hamilton made a good start to the session following Williams' mini-revival on Sunday night. And the Enfield-based professional opened with a break of 58 to increase his lead to 10-7.

Williams had a chance to reduce the deficit but allowed Hamilton back in and a 79 clearance moved him within two of victory. Both players then squandered frame-winning opportunities in the crucial 19th frame.

Hamilton looked to have gifted the frame to Williams when he went in off the blue. However, Williams' attempted cut rattled in the jaws and his opponent cleared up to take the frame. Hamilton looked in control of the next frame until a bad contact on the cue ball resulted in him missing a simple red.

Williams took advantage and knocked in a break of 55 to keep alive his Championship hopes. But Hamilton produced some stunning shots after the mid-session interval to book his place in the last eight.

Earlier, John Higgins almost capped off a superb display with a 147 clearance as he eased into the quarter-finals. He manoeuvred the cue ball around expertly in the second frame of the session before misjudging a shot on the 14th black. But the missed chance did not affect Higgins' concentration, and he went on to register an emphatic 13-2 win over his fellow Scot Graeme Dott.

The 26-year-old, yet again, made a flying start and a break of 90 won him the opening frame of the session for a 9-0 lead. Higgins was clearly disappointed not to have registered the fifth maximum in the history of the World Championship, but a break of 105 was more than enough to move him within three frames of victory. Dott finally won his first frame of the match in the 11th and the 24-year-old immediately turned and waved to the crowd.

Higgins, helped by breaks of 78 and 112, then moved within one of victory before Dott pulled another frame back. Higgins finished with an 84 break to set up a last-eight meeting with Matthew Stevens.

The eighth seed Stephen Lee joined Higgins in the quarter-finals with a 13-3 win over Quinten Hann. Lee also treated the crowd to some high-quality break-building in his match with the Australian, opening with an 86 break before quickly winning the second frame for a 9-1 advantage.

Hann again smashed the pack open from the break in the 11th, but all it did was give Lee another frame-winning chance, which he duly snapped up. The Australian squandered two chances in the next frame, and Lee stepped in to take an 11-1 lead at the mid-session interval.

Hann fought back after the break and won two frames, but Lee held his nerve to secure victory with a session to spare.