In the semi-finals, Hendry defeated fellow Scot John Higgins 6–4 and Williams also beat Fergal O'Brien 6–4.

[1][2] The 2001 tournament was the fourth of the five World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association invitational events in the 2000–01 snooker season,[3] and was the seventh Malta Grand Prix,[1] It was held at the Mediterranean Conference Centre, Valletta, between 21 and 25 February 2001, and preceded the 2001 Masters.

[5][6] Maltese players Alex Borg, Tony Drago and Joe Grech as well as Ken Doherty, Stephen Hendry, John Higgins, Paul Hunter, Stephen Lee, Fergal O'Brien, Matthew Stevens, Joe Swail and Mark Williams participated in the tournament.

[6] In his first match since losing to O'Brien in the quarter-finals of the 2001 Masters,[10] world number seven and the tournament's defending champion Doherty made breaks of 115, 73, 131, 77 and 79 to defeat Borg 5–1.

[13] During the eighth frame, the electrical cables attached to the television lighting rig some 50 ft (15 m) above the players snapped and swung across the table, causing Stevens, who was about to strike the pink ball, to seek cover.

[13][14][15] Hendry produced his 19th century break of the season and the 524th of his career in the fifth frame of his 5–1 victory over Grech.

[8] Lee, the world number five, won 5–3 over Swail and needed to beat O'Brien to go through to the semi-finals.

O'Brien took the eighth to force a final frame decider that he won with a break of 59 for a 5–4 victory and entry to the semi-finals.

[13] Williams won 5–2 over Hunter and commented that he could not score heavily due to bouncing on the cushions and had difficulty controlling the cue ball.

[16] Williams claimed the final frames of his match against Drago with breaks of 54, 65, 45, 43 and 36 to win the last semi-final spot 5–2.

[8] Hendry, who had qualified for his 90th career final, said: "I played OK in patches then missed an easy one, something you can't afford to do at this level.

[8] Williams changed his playing style midway through the match as he was unsteady as a result of him jabbing and snatching.

[21] Williams reached his second final of the season and commented on his playing style: "To do that is ludicrous but that shows how my head went.

[8] Hendry commented on the win: "People will say this is only a small tournament but just to be in the winner's circle again is a good feeling.

"[26] He conceded that "I'm getting used to a good pummelling" after losing the finals of the UK Championship to Higgins and the China Open to O'Sullivan earlier in the season.