MARK Williams admitted it was sickening to see a kick derail his chances of beating Mark Selby in the first round of the Dafabet Masters, as the Welsh potter lost a final-frame decider in the event for the second year running, writes Andrew Lawton.

The Cwm cueman trailed 3-1 after two century breaks from Selby, including a 138 – the highest break of the tournament so far at Alexandra Palace.

But Williams fought back and took the match all the way, looking on course for a win as he was in the balls in the final frame and had made a break of 20.

However, a horrible kick when attempting to pot the blue gave Selby his chance, and he took the match 6-5 with an excellent 89 clearance.

“I was just a bit sick to go out like that, I would have made 40 or 50 in that frame if it wasn’t for that kick on the blue but what can you do?” said 41-year-old Williams.

“It was a good game, he played unbelievable stuff before the interval and I came all the way back at him. It’s just one of those things and he still made a great break to finish it.

“It was unfortunate for me really. I probably get more kicks than other people but I also had the roll of a lot of balls.

“Who knows, if I didn’t get the kick on the blue I could have won, I’m not saying I would have won the frame from there but I definitely would have been 40 or 50 points in front and it would have been different.”

With Selby making breaks of 139 and 109, two-time Masters champion Williams had it all to do at the mid-session interval.

But he used all his experience to keep battling with breaks of 50 and 58 twice bringing him back on level terms, the second time at 5-5.

And the Welsh potter had his opportunity in the final frame but the kick cost him and Selby showed why he has spent more than 100 weeks as world number one.

“I can’t grumble," added Williams. "He played fantastic and that’s why he’s world number one, he’s a class act on and off the table.

"We couldn’t have a better player than him to represent our sport.

"You can name your Dings (Junhui) and (Judd) Trumps, they are excellent players, but they're not in this fellow's league, he's just miles above them. He could be world number one in any era."

Watch the London Masters live on Eurosport 2, featuring daily studio analysis from Ronnie O’Sullivan, Jimmy White and Neal Foulds.