Four-time world champion Mark Selby threatened to quit snooker after losing in the Tour Championship to Gary Wilson, who also described his winning performance as “embarrassing”.
Wilson sealed a 10-8 victory with a clearance of 105, but both players were scathing about their performance in Manchester.
“I mean I was pathetic really, from start to finish,” Selby told ITV4. “Probably one of the worst games I’ve played as a professional. Definitely up there for sure.
"If I keep playing like that I'm not gonna carry on"
Strong words from Selby after a disappointing loss sends him out of the Tour Championship@markjesterselby#ITVSnooker #TourChampionship pic.twitter.com/4woZZnqrgM
— ITV Snooker (@itvsnooker) April 2, 2024
“If I carry on playing like that, then yeah, I won’t be enjoying it and I will be choosing a different career for sure.
“Neither of us played great in the second session, Gary played well on Monday and deserved his 5-3 lead. Today neither of us played great. I was like that all match. I deserved to lose.
“I will give the World Championship a go, but if I keep playing like that, I’m not going to carry on.”
Wilson believes he will have to improve ahead of his quarter-final against Zhang Anda, telling ITV4: “I don’t know how I won to be honest. I’m just thankful Mark didn’t play very well because I was embarrassing.
![Gary Wilson](http://image.assets.pressassociation.io/v2/image/production/4229730a86b31472ccdfc2d29033a2b9Y29udGVudHNlYXJjaGFwaSwxNzEyMTgxNTUy/2.71893019.jpg?w=640)
“The cue action wasn’t even there yesterday – it may have looked a bit better but I just felt deep down all along, I was struggling. I was hitting everything really quick and snatchy and just tried to keep plugging away.”
Reminded that he had made breaks of 95, 98, 78 and 101 in taking a 5-3 lead from Monday’s opening session and must therefore have been cueing well, Wilson replied: “Incorrect.
“I was not cueing very well at all but I can score when I’m not cueing well. That was feeling really bad and it was feeling even worse today and that’s why I missed so many easy balls, gave him so many chances and lifelines.
“Really, if I’d been playing decent and Mark had played as bad as he did there, I should have won that 10-3, 10-4. It was that bad it became really close and I’m just thankful he didn’t play very well either.
Ali Carter prevents the fightback from Barry Hawkins to progress to the quarter-finals.#ITVSnooker #TourChampionship pic.twitter.com/SpFuZtrubg
— ITV Snooker (@itvsnooker) April 2, 2024
“I’m not enjoying it but we go again on Thursday and I’m just hoping I can find something between now and then.”
Ali Carter will face bitter rival Ronnie O’Sullivan in the quarter-finals after holding off a spirited fightback from Barry Hawkins.
Carter raced into a 7-1 lead after Hawkins had won the opening frame, but the left-hander won seven of the first nine frames in the evening session, including taking the 17th frame on a respotted black after needing two snookers.
However, Carter held his nerve to win the next and seal a 10-8 victory which sets up a showdown with O’Sullivan, 11 weeks after the pair were involved in a war of words following the Masters final won by O’Sullivan.
“I relish the challenge now because he’s the best player ever to pick up a cue,” Carter told ITV4. “To play him in another quarter-final, I’ve played him in a final this year, I’m in the right place.”
Mark Williams produced a superb clearance of 66 in the deciding frame to edge out Tom Ford 10-9 and set up a quarter-final with Judd Trump.
“I was dead on my feet for the last hour and three quarters, I was absolutely shattered,” said Williams, who has just returned from a trip to China.
“I thought it was all over. Where that clearance in the last frame came from I do not know. It was probably one of the best clearances I’ve done.”
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