• Williams claims his son was denied entry to dressing room • ‘It’s pathetic in my eyes,’ he says after seeing off Martin Gould

Mark Williams launched another attack on World Snooker after booking his place in the second round of the World Championship at the Crucible.

The defending champion’s 10-7 win over Martin Gould was overshadowed by an incident before the match in which the 44-year-old claimed his 12-year-old son was prevented from visiting him in his dressing room. The claim, which the governing body rigorously denied, is the latest in a series of gripes he has with the organisation over perceived unfair treatment.

Williams said: “They [World Snooker] have obviously got some kind of beef with me, but whatever it is you’ll have to ask them. I’ve been having all this nonsense all season really and this morning was the last straw. My boy tried to get in to say good luck and I couldn’t get him in because I’d used my two passes.

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“It’s pathetic in my eyes. If you’re the world champion you expect some kind of [favour]. But I wasn’t going to let it play on my mind. They will say that nothing’s wrong.”

A spokesman for World Snooker denied that Williams’s son had been refused entry to the dressing room, pointing out that the player had chosen to give his two allotted passes to his coach and his friend.

The spokesman said: “Every player in the event is allocated two backstage passes. And they can make their own decisions who to give those to. At no point were his children refused entry.”

Williams, who will play David Gilbert or Joe Perry in the second round, had already expressed his displeasure with tournament organisers over what he considered to be a lack of sufficient profile in their promotional materials. On the eve of the event he claimed World Snooker officials would prefer anyone but him to win the title this year, an accusation the governing body also vehemently denied.

The lingering bad feeling appeared to have done little to affect Williams’s game as he won five frames in a row to establish a 6-3 lead at the end of the opening session. He moved within one frame of victory at 9-4 after resuming in the evening but a belated rally from Gould, with consecutive breaks of 70, 87 and 76, brought him back to within two frames.

A superb long red in the next finally paved the way for Williams to get over the line and his beaten opponent said he would not be too surprised to see the Welshman go on to win a fourth title.

Referring to Williams’s much-publicised buildup to the tournament, Gould said: “As long as he stays off the booze, the kebabs and the Minstrels I think he’ll be all right.”

Neil Robertson will return on Sunday evening one frame away from only the second whitewash in Crucible history after establishing a 9-0 lead over Michael Georgiou. The Australian, the second favourite to win the title after Ronnie O’Sullivan, fired two centuries to overwhelm Georgiou, who faces the prospect of being the first player to exit without winning a frame since Eddie Charlton was beaten 10-0 by John Parrott in the 1992 first round.

Ding Junhui holds a 6-3 overnight lead over Anthony McGill, Luca Brecel is edging Gary Wilson 5-4 and Tian Pengfei leads Stephen Maguire 5-4, with all three matches due to finish on Sunday . PA