Mark Williams to undergo surgery to prolong career after problem causes havoc

will undergo lens replacement surgery in a desperate bid to prolong his illustrious career.

The three-time world champion, 50, became the oldest winner of a match at the for 15 years - Steve Davis was 52 when he beat John Higgins back in 2010 - with a 10-8 win over Chinese upstart Wu Yize, 29 years his junior.

Snooker legend Williams has noticed his eyes significantly deteriorate in recent months and is amazingly winning despite seeing multiple balls due to severely blurred vision.

But the all-time great ditched his experiment with contact lenses before his Crucible opener on the advice of coach Lee Walker.

The procedure, which costs around £4,000 an eye, replaces the natural lens in the eye with an artificial intraocular lens.

And sixth seed Williams, who booked a 22nd last-16 appearance, revealed: "I'm booked in on the 12th of June for lens replacement. Hopefully if it all goes well it can prolong my career for another four or five years.

"I've noticed them get a lot worse in the last six months. I'm seeing about three or four balls at a time. I knew the day was coming where I'd have to do something about it.

"Hopefully it all goes well and I get used to them because if I can there's no reason I can't extend my career.

"If I keep going without doing anything the only way is down. I'd be seeing five balls then what would I go for then! I tried playing with contacts but that was really difficult. It was really uncomfortable in the eyes.

"With the contacts it's brilliant I only see the one ball I'm going for, it's clear. But then the cueball's really blurry and I couldn't work out where to hit the cueball and that was driving me nuts.

"I was practicing one day with them, one day without them so I let Lee choose and he chose for me not to play with them. It would be funny if I did really well here. If I cancel, would I get my deposit back?"

Williams withstood the second best scoring streak in Crucible history, 466 unanswered points, to lead 5-4 overnight. And it was nip-and-tuck all the way to 8-8 before the Welshman produced two vintage breaks to progress.

The Welsh Potting Machine added: "I've finished really strongly there so that can only be good for my confidence. It's in the tank, it's been in the tank all season. I won the Champion of Champions and lost in the big final in Saudi.

"I don't like to say it because I've beaten him. He's an unbelievable potter and has the potential to win this tournament one day. Every time I left a long ball he potted it. That's why I reverted to my sneaky break off rolling into the reds to stop him potting."

Earlier in the day, Xiao Guodong completed a 10-4 thrashing of Matt Selt. Mark Allen leads Fan Zhengyi 5-4 after fighting back from 3-0 down.

World No.3 John Higgins kicks off his bid for a famous fifth title against Joe O'Connor on Monday.