Players Championship 2022 as it happened - Neil Robertson beats Kyren Wilson, Mark Williams overcomes Gary Wilson

Join us tomorrow afternoon for more frolics.

Mark J Williams 6-3 Gary Wilson

That was a really fun match - both players played some great stuff and Kyren had his chances. But it's Neil who goes through, and he meets Ronnie O'Sullivan or Judd Trump next. Tasty!

He tries to get angle to disturb it off the blue, doesn't, so sinks the yellow and has another think. In comms, Ken thinks he's just going to knock in the green and play safe, but no! He bothers it by coming back the full width of the table, bags it, and this looks like the match! What a shot that was!

The brown's on the side cushion, yellow side and halfway up; Neil's going to need it to win the frame at this visit, and with one red remaining takes a few moments to walk his way through his path to it. This is tense.

But a container suffices, because shortly after it he's left a cut-back black parallel with black cush, and he takes it really well before easing through a nerveless run. I'm impartial, but we deserve a decider do we not? But on no± At full-stretch, he misses a cut from centre to left corner, and again will be wondering if he's cooked. Neil has a starter!

That didn't take long! Neil plays a terrible positional shot, so after a long think takes on a cut from centre to left-corner, with the rest. He jawses it, but somehow, with seven loose reds on the table, he leaves nothing - which leaves Kyren with a battle to conceive, never mind play, a decent safety.

He'll be rueing it now! A poor safety hands Neil a starter - what we he even trying to do? - and Kyren, visibly vexed, has to sit down wondering if he's getting another shot. The reds aren't that nicely set, so I'd say there's a fair chance.

Neil misses a long red you expect him to take then, after a bout of safety, Kyren finishes on nothing. But he's next to get a proper chance, cueing nicely to send one dead straight and diagonal into left corner. At this stage, this is a chance, but then he clouts home a yellow with a huge area to hit, only to finish adjacent to the pink and therefore unable to pot any of the various pottable balls. He tries a speculative double because he knows he can leave the white safe, but will be rueing that carelessness.

Mark J Williams 5-3 Gary Wilson

Neil loves a ton and he makes sure to get one here, 100 exactly. he needs one more, but Kyren is playing well enough to prevet that.

This is very competently taken off the set - both players have been much better since the mid-sesh.

But a poor black means he has to play safe, tucking in tight to the top cushion and leaving a tempter to left middle. Kyren takes it on, but fractionally overcuts it, not catching enough of the ball, and Neil has a great chance to win the frame at this next visit.

Kyren is a bad matchup for Neil, I think - he beat him at Sheffield and, more recently, in the Champion of Champions. He slows things down a bit and has the long-potting to go with his safety. But it's Neil in first, and he's potting with real purpose - he knows he's best when his shot-time is low, and that's what he's doing here.

Mark J Williams 4-3 Gary Wilson

It's getting real. A total clearance of 141 is an early candidate for the highest break prize, and here we go. Settle in!

Might be reaching that elusive moment when both players are playing well, as we approach a best of three decider? I hope so!

Not for long. He goes to baulk for the brown, nearly pots a red making his way back to the business end, and is looking good.

Kyren splatters home a long red to left corner and quickly sinks three more reds and four blacks. The reds aren't beautiful, but let's be real: it's on our minds.

Mark J Williams 4-3 Gary Wilson

A fine 94 clearance from Neil puts him two away, but I've not a clue who's going to win this.

On 64, Neil goes in and out of baulk trying to get behind the final red; he doesn't get the flick he's after, but tucks it into the yellow pocket nonetheless, and should now be back in front.

But on 36 he runs out of position, trying a clever little billiard shot - the white onto a red, then onto another red that's by the side bag. He gets close but not close enough, then Neil foul-misses trying to get at it on the way back to baulk playing off the top cushion. So he tries a different shot, leaves one to left corner, and Kyren misses it by a mile! Goodness me, these are both better than this, and Neil has a chance to steal!

Kyren's cueing nicely now, bagging a cut-back red after Neil misses a long one. The interval seems to have done him some good, and he's striding about with purpose.

Mark J Williams 3-3 Gary Wilson

A gorgeous run of 87 hauls Kyren level, the pink he clatters down the side rail, having jammed the white in behind it, the shot of the match so far. This is getting interesting.

Yeah, Kyren is well-set to steal here, and earn the level game he thought he was getting when close to making it 2-2.

Third time lucky? Neil takes another longun, follows it with the black, and goes in and out of baulk to return to the business end. But an infelicitous flick off the black ruins a break just as it's taking shape with Neil starting to flow, then a miscue playing safe hands Kyren the table!

Another fine red to Neil and this time he is on the black ... but can't get off it and onto the next one.

Neil rams home the red that's left him off the break, cracked right into the leather. But he catches a different red en route back to baulk, so has to play safe onto black cush.

Mark J Williams 2-3 Gary Wilson

I was expecting a much higher standard than we've seen, but there's plenty of time for things to improve.

It doesn't - he actually leaves Neil a chance - but he can't take it and Kyren sinks the red that clinches things.

Kyrizzle runs out of position on 32, but an error from Neil, leaving one to right middle, allows him back in for a visit that should prove conclusive in the frame.

Neil rolls down to a red, coming off the side to knock it away from right corner ... but again, the white rolls off course, so it's a foul-miss then a leave of an opener to right-middle. He'll have known it was on, but unreplete with options he just hoped Kyren would miss it; he didn't, and now has a hand on the table having opened the cluster.

Mark J Williams 2-2 Gary Wilson

A fair reflection of the play, it just should've been Neil winning the third frame and Kyren the fourth. But here we are, and Kyren will have to play much better than he has so far to get close; he's got the interval to get over the mess that cost him a tied mini-sesh.

Kyren doubles a red to left middle, but then a dreadful shot - a safety with the rest that leaves everything - what was he even trying?! - hands Neil a sniff in a frame that looked lost. He removes the remaining reds, and if he can pot the green, close to the side, via double, it'll be 3-1. Down it goes!

Neil misses to the green pocket and reacts as though the white deviated off the straight. But then Kyren misses a green to centre - the middle bags are unforgiving on this table, so perhaps he shouldn't have gone at it as hard - only for Neil to respond by missing to left corner. Safety doth duly ensue which, given how these are potting, is probably for the best.

This is good from Kyren, but of course as I type that he caresses a red into the far middle knuckle, having cannoned the black nicely, and Neil now has a chance to profit from his hard work. The remaining reds - there are five of them - are very close together, so this won't be easy, but it's more than he'll have thought he was getting, but of course as I type that he misses a pot to the yellow pocket and neither man is playing all that well.

Kyren misses a longish red to right corner, the kind that underpins his clever safety game, and Neil is back in. But have a look! He misses a dolly with the rest and Kyren has a chance he won't have expected. There are only two loose reds, so there's a lot of work to do, but if Kyren can scab his way to a 2-2 interval score, he'll be well pleased.

Mark J Williams 1-2 Gary Wilson

A run of 60 secures the frame, and really, Kyren's done well not to be 3-0 down.

We're rolling into and out of the bunch - re-rack territory in other words - but with reds now up in baulk it's less likely. Then Kyren makes an error and offers an easy starter which Neil swiftly drains; he's shortly about the black spot, and this is a good chance.

Kyren misses a red to right corner - by a distance - cannons the black - and leaves both for Neil. There are a few loose reds, so we should see him accumulate a decent advantage accumulated, except he tries to dig into the pack when too straight on the blue, misses it entirely then, when playing a harder pot to the green pocket, sends the white into the middle.

Mark J Williams 0-2 Gary Wilson

A run of 57 punishes Neil, who missed two straightforward pots when properly in. Kyren tries to finish things with a trick shot on the black, going around the angles to tap it home; he misses, but he'll take 1-1 having barely got going.

Knuck! Neil lamps a red into left corner, then somehow misses a much easier run-through on a blue to right corner - I did not see that coming, at all, and Kyren must capitalise.

Another safety exchange and it's Neil who makes the first error, leaving a red over left corner; Kyren sinks it and comes up for the blue, only to miss a red to right corner soon after, and if Neil can get through to a red above the pink - which is on the brown spot - he can - this is a fair opportunity for 2-0.

Left a chance off the break, Neil clips in a fine starter to right corner, spanks home the blue, races in and out of baulk, and breaks the pack. It's a terrific effort and he's on a red, just about, which cuts to that same right corner. The brown then goes to the green pocket, and this is another very nice chance ... until Neil misses a pink to right centre, the easiest shot he's taken on so far in this break; he gets a bit of luck, though, leaving nothing.

Neil has to make do with a 103, but he's away and acclimatised.

There's a potential 134 out there, not bad for someone who, not that long ago, was driving round and round the Wolverhampton ring-road

Neil is right in the balls here, though pink and black are tied up, because there are so many reds loose in the middle of the table. But as I type that, he takes his first seven-pointer, and this is beginning to look a lot like 1-0.

A bout of safety follows the break, then Kyren leaves the white in the middle of it and Neil gets away. The reds are nicely split, so this is a pretty good chance to rack up a lead.

And here we go!

It just does not stop. This is another belter of a tournament, effectively giving us the best players in the world right now. That means no place for Mark Selby - you what mate?! - but plenty of places for plenty of other plenty brilliant players. And we start tonight with a very serious match: Neil Robertson v Kyren Wilson - come on! - while, on the other table, it's Mark J Williams v Gary Wilson.

Snooker's big guns take centre stage in Wolverhampton as the Aldersley Leisure Village hosts the 2022 Players Championship.

The top-16 players in the world based on the one-year rankings are in action, throwing up some tantalising ties between now and the final on Sunday, February 13.

Zhao Xintong arrives as the No. 1 seed after an impressive breakout season which has seen him claim the UK Championship and the German Masters in recent months.

The field also features the likes of Neil Robertson and Mark Williams who are both in action on day one against Kyren Wilson and Gary Wilson respectively.

---

Watch every moment of Olympic Winter Games Beijing 2022 on discovery+