Walden beats Williams to make quarter-finals

Ricky Walden backed up his recent form with a 6-3 win over former world champion Mark Williams to advance to the quarter-finals of the UK Championships on Wednesday. Walden made his name beating Ronnie O’Sullivan to win the Shanghai Masters three years ago but has struggled to repeat that success. However, he made a maximum 147 break during the recent PTC event in Sheffield and in the first round of the UK defeated the experienced Stephen Lee.The match was split into blocks of three, Walden winning the first and Williams the next before the Englishman, who twice came from behind to clinch frames, won through to the last eight. Wednesday afternoon’s other second round match looked like being a one-sided affair as Shaun Murphy raced into a 5-0 lead over fellow Englishman Martin Gould.But the 2005 world champion saw his lead eroded as Gould made a 133 clearance in the sixth frame and then took the next three.