World News – GB – UK Championship Snooker 2020 – Mark Williams destroys Ben Hancorn in the first round

Mark Williams began his quest for a first British Championship title since 2002 with a quick first-round sacking of Ben Hancorn.

45-year-old Williams, a two-time winner who also won the British Championship trophy in 1999, saw Welsh World No. 6-0 win at the Marshall Arena in Milton Keynes with the 6-0 win. 118 Hancorn in good shape.

There was only one over 50 break for Williams, a 57 in the fifth frame, while Hancorn scored 53 in the opener, despite succumbing to 102-67 after a series of fouls attempting to hit the blue.

A flawed scoreboard delayed Williams’ attack, with the fifth frame pausing halfway when the issue was resolved, but it did little to stop the three-time world champion from taking a routine victory.

Williams, who last reached the final in 2010 and has only reached the quarter-finals once, will face Sunny Akani’s winner against Kacper Filipiak in the next round.

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Elsewhere the world No.. 13, Yan Bingtao, in a close encounter against Sean Maddocks and won 6-4.

Yan was leading 3-0 with a break of 130, which helped him take a healthy lead, but with a 107 Maddocks reduced the deficit to 4-3 before Yan won two of the next three frames to move forward.

Anthony Hamilton and Ryan Day contracted coronavirus and retired from the UK championship.

49-year-old Hamilton was due to play Xu Si on Monday morning and Day, who made it to the third round of the Northern Ireland Open, faced Jak Jones Championship on the evening of the first day in the UK. Both Xu and Jones have said goodbye to the second round.

Hamilton retired from the World Cup late on health issues in August after it was revealed that the Crucible would accept a limited audience into the newly planned worlds. The player who was eliminated in the first round of the UK Championship last year has asthma.

All games are the best from 11 frames through to the final, which will be on Sunday the 6th. December, the best of 19 frames will be played.

The UK Championship – part of the Triple Crown series of Snooker – should be held at the York Barbican, but due to the global health pandemic, all remaining World Snooker Tour events in 2020 – including the Northern Ireland Open, UK Championship, Scottish Open and World Grand Prix – will continue to be held behind closed doors at the Marshall Arena in Milton Keynes.

We will also be reporting on Eurosport online. co. uk website and our social channels.

UK Championship, Championship, Snooker, Ding Junhui, Ryan Day, Ronnie O’Sullivan, Anthony Hamilton, Judd Trump