2024 Northern Ireland Open: Kyren Wilson strengthens impressive personal record over Mark Williams

Wilson registered breaks of 72, 135 and 67 during the comfortable victory to set up a last four meeting with Pang Junxu on Saturday at the Waterfront Hall in Belfast.

A winner of seven ranking event titles, 32-year-old Wilson has yet to claim glory at a Home Nations Series tournament, but is two more wins away from opening that particular account.

The world number two has reached two Home Nations finals in the past, but both of those occasions were sore experiences following heavy losses inflicted by inspired opponents.

At the 2017 English Open, Wilson was defeated 9-2 by Ronnie O'Sullivan, and at the 2020 Welsh Open, he was crushed 9-1 by Shaun Murphy.

Wilson's latest win over Williams sees him further bolster an already impressive head-to-head career record against the three-time World Champion. In all professional events - including several short-race Championship League fixtures - Wilson now leads by 12 wins to 6.

However, it is Wilson's winning record in ranking event action that is really interesting.

From their six ranked matches, Wilson now leads 5-1, and by an overall frame aggregate score of 25-8.

The first of those ties came in the quarter-finals of the inaugural Northern Ireland Open when 'The Warrior' came out on top, 5-4.

Since then, in matches that were best of 7 frames or longer, it has been an extremely and very weirdly - given Williams' status in the sport - one-sided affair.

Wilson hit three century breaks as he won 5-1 in the quarter-finals of the 2017 World Open in China. He then recorded back-to-back whitewash victories over Williams - 5-0 in the last eight of the 2019 German Masters, and 4-0 in the semi-finals of the 2020 Gibraltar Open.

Williams' only success over Wilson in ranking action was en route to the WST Pro Series title - during the COVID-affected 2020/21 season - when he won 2-1 in the final group stage.

That encounter over three-and-a-half years ago was their most recent meeting in any professional event until earlier today.

For full details on the 2024 Northern Ireland Open including the draw, results, prize money, schedule and how to watch, please visit our tournament information centre here.