2026 Northern Ireland Open Snooker: Mark Williams and Jak Jones to meet in all-Welsh semi

They join Kyren Wilson and Sam Craigie in Saturday’s last four programme at the Waterfront Hall in Belfast after those two won their latest assignments during the afternoon session to reach the one-table set-up.

Three-times World Snooker Champion Williams produced a burst of brilliance in his tie with David Gilbert to turn a deficit into a lead before going on to record a 6-4 victory and make the 71st ranking event semi-final of his illustrious career.

Gilbert (95 break, frame three) went to the mid-session interval 3-1 ahead, and it could have been a clean sweep having made a 51 in the second frame before Williams came back to take it on the colours.

On resumption, a 52 in the fifth helped Williams to close the gap to one, but former Championship League winner Gilbert re-established a two-frame buffer after a 68 in the sixth.

Then came 51-year-old Williams' spell of sizzling scoring, fashioning runs of 104, 115 and 101 in consecutive frames to go from 4-2 down to 5-4 up.

Winner of this crown at the Waterfront in 2017, Williams then did the bulk of the damage with an effort of 68 in frame 10 before wrapping up the win.

Williams remains on course to break his own record as the oldest-ever winner of a professional ranking event; he set a new benchmark when he won the 2026 Xi'an Grand Prix in China just over 12 months ago.

Lifting The Alex Higgins Trophy later this week would also see Williams collect the final invite for next month's Champion of Champions, and put him top of this season's Home Nations Series order of merit for which there is a £150,000 bonus prize. He was runner-up to Ali Carter at last month’s English Open, the first of four legs over this campaign.

The other quarter-final on Friday night in the Northern Irish capital between Jones and Scott Donaldson went the distance.

Donaldson made breaks of 54, 52 and 78, but it was Jones - who despite not crafting a half-century - got to within one of victory at 5-4 up.

The former World Snooker Championship runner-up did produce a 50 in frame ten as he tried to counter for the match, however, in a dramatic twist, he successfully doubled the blue but snookered himself on the pink - the only ball he needed - behind the black.

After a tense passage of play that saw penalty points change the balance, Jones fluked the pink, but it was Donaldson who later sank the black for 5-5.

In the decider, Donaldson got in first before rattling a red at the business end of the table. World number 24 Jones stepped in and fully punished with a match-winning run of 84.

It has already been a career-changing season for 33-year-old Jones who claimed his maiden ranking title at the Championship League in July, and then doubled up in September with the British Open crown.

Jones will now face Williams in all-Welsh clash on Saturday night from 19:00BST. Wilson will share the baize with fellow Englishman Craigie in the first final four tie from 13:00BST. Both matches are the best of 11 frames.

To view the full draw, results, schedule, and other information from the 2026 Northern Ireland Open, visit our tournament information centre here.