European Masters: Barry Hawkins blitzes Mark Williams to secure final against Kyren Wilson

Barry Hawkins raced to a 6-2 victory at the European Masters as he defeated Mark Williams on Saturday night to set up a final with Kyren Wilson.

Two visits to the table had seemed to be enough to set Williams up for a first-frame win but Hawkins, chasing his fourth ranking title, was able to withstand the pressure for an excellent break of 59 to go ahead.

The second frame went along a similar path as the Welshman put 50 on the board, but with an excellent brown, Hawkins moved to 27 to set up a snooker on the remaining red.

After a foul from Williams, Hawkins returned to the table to again win it on the pink.

The third, too, took the same course as Williams went ahead and then was left trying to get out of a snooker to find the yellow, and Hawkins then repeated the trick to earn four points from each snooker, only for the Englishman to stumble and leave the pair fighting over the black with Williams 60-53 up, with the former world No. 1 winning on a re-spotted black.

Williams tripped up again while looking set for a frame win in the fourth but gave Hawkins the chance of a comeback, needing a snooker to stay in the frame, which was beyond him. At the mid-session break, it finished 2-2.

At the restart, Hawkins’ second half century took him back into the lead after a potting error from his opponent, and another Williams error allowed Hawkins back in for his highest break (89) of the match so far.

He followed that up with an even better 131 to go three-up, and then a break of 79 took him to a confident win.

Hawkins will play Wilson in Sunday’s final.