Snooker · International
Hill defeats Williams as German Masters second day reshapes the draw
Hill closed with a century against Williams, while Ursenbacher and Xiao joined the second-day winners in Berlin.
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A strong finish from Hill
Aaron Hill defeated Mark Williams 5–2 on 28 January, closing their German Masters first-round match with 115. The Irishman reached a full-format ranking event’s last 32 for the first time that season. Alexander Ursenbacher beat Jack Lisowski 5–3 and advanced to face Ali Carter.
Decisive visits and a busy afternoon
The broadcaster’s live report traced Hill’s final push from a 3–2 lead. He won the sixth frame after an imperfect positional sequence went unpunished, then converted a long red into his decisive century in the seventh. That finish left Williams without another chance to bring the match back toward a deciding frame. The same coverage confirmed Xiao Guodong’s 5–3 victory over Fan Zhengyi, the match shown in the photograph accompanying this report. Other afternoon winners included Anthony McGill, who edged Pang Junxu 5–4, and Si Jiahui, who beat Ken Doherty 5–0. Elliot Slessor defeated Lyu Haotian 5–1. These results changed several portions of the draw at once, with Xiao and McGill progressing through closer contests while Si and Slessor conceded little ground.
The result against recent form
The official broadcaster’s match record provides useful context for Hill’s breakthrough. Its listed recent fixtures include losses to Mark Allen at the International Championship and British Open, to Kyren Wilson at the Wuhan Open, and to Selby at the English Open. The International Championship defeat was 2–6 on 4 November; the British Open loss was 1–4 on 24 September. Hill lost 0–5 in Wuhan on 7 October and 2–4 at the English Open on 16 September. The displayed Saudi Arabia Masters entry also shows a 2–4 loss to Allan Taylor in August. Those entries do not constitute an exhaustive account of every match, but they show the calibre of opponents who had stopped several previous runs. Williams’ displayed record included a 10–6 Champion of Champions final victory over Xiao in November, followed by 5–6 first-round defeats at the UK Championship and January Masters. His route to that November title included a 6–2 semi-final win over Robertson and a 6–5 quarter-final victory against Wilson. Hill’s Berlin win therefore added another early exit for Williams while giving the younger player a result against an established tournament winner.
Progress within the January programme
The tournament’s published schedule placed these matches on the second day of a 27 January to 2 February programme. The Tempodrom had hosted the WST event since 2011, and the advance announcement listed capacity at 2,000. Hill and Ursenbacher both described the crowd as part of their experience after winning. Their results earned another round in that setting; neither result was a title victory or a completed assessment of the week’s final standings.
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