UK Snooker Championship 2017: Mark Williams may pull out to be with sick wife

Mark Williams has won 19 ranking titles in his career

Two-time champion Mark Williams says he may pull out of the UK Championship because his wife Jo is ill in hospital.

The 42-year-old Welshman raced to a 6-0 win over Paul Davison in his first-round match but is unsure if he will play in the second round against Andrew Higginson on Saturday.

"She was having stuff done, injections in her spine. I will phone her to see how she is," Williams said.

"If she is really bad I will go back, but I won't know until this afternoon."

• UK Championship scores, schedule and results

On Sunday, Williams won the Northern Ireland Open, his first ranking title in nearly seven years.

But he nearly had to withdraw from the final because his wife was taken ill.

"At any stage if she wants me to go back I will go back," he added.

"You don't want to be pulling out of the second biggest tournament we play in.

"But I just have to see what happens and keep my fingers crossed and hope everything will be OK and I will still be here."

There were also comfortable wins during Thursday's morning session for 2015 runner-up Liang Wenbo, who thrashed Sanderson Lam 6-1, and former world champion Graeme Dott, a 6-2 victor over Josh Boileau.

"I played well," Dott said. "This is the best I have played in the past few years. I got a bit lazy but am practising more than I have in a long time."