Williams beats Liu at World Championship

Mark Williams knocked China's Liu Chang out of the World Championship on Thursday to set up a second round clash with fellow former champion Ronnie O'Sullivan.

Williams, twice a winner of the World Championship, was booed by several spectators when he entered the Crucible Theatre on Wednesday having criticised the venue before the tournament and saying the event should be moved to China. But the Welshman put the jeers to one side to extend his overnight lead of 6-3 into a 10-6 victory.

Williams accepted he'd blundered in making public his derogatory remarks about the Crucible.

"Of course. I've already apologised to the main people I've really upset - the staff and the people in the Crucible," he said. "There's not a lot more I can do really.

"It just came out a little bit wrong. It's not one of my favourite venues, (but) once it goes down to a one-table set-up it's completely different." Williams was 9-3 ahead before the 21-year-old Liu won three straight frames. "I probably should have won it a lot earlier than that," Williams said.

"With every frame he was winning I was starting to come under more pressure. "At one stage I was in my chair wondering how many more he was going to pull back. I'm over the moon to scrape through."