World Snooker say tomorrow’s Northern Ireland Open final will go ahead ‘as it stands’ after Mark Williams indicated he may have to pull out for personal reasons.

Williams secured his place in Sunday’s £70,000 grand final earlier today after he beat Elliot Slessor 6-2 in the first semi-final.

However, the two-times world champion took to Twitter this evening to say he received a phone call telling him his wife had been taken to hospital by ambulance due to ill health.

Williams tweeted: “Not the phone call I wanted. Mrs in ambulance taking her back to hospital tonight. Summut not right here. Waiting to hear what is going to happen next . @jodenwill really going through it at the moment. Last thing I want is too pull out now but we will have 2 wait and c.”

It means tomorrow’s big final in Belfast is currently in some doubt. The announcement came during the middle of this evening’s second semi-final between Yan Bingtao and Lyu Haotian.

World Snooker also took to Twitter to clarify the situation with fans and all those connected to snooker. The tweet said Williams was monitoring his personal situation and the final ‘as it stands’ was going ahead as planned. However, obviously,  depending on circumstances this could change.

Referee Jan Verhass said should Williams pull out for personal reasons then the winner of the second semi-final will be declared the winner of the competition.