JOHN HIGGINS PRODUCED a vintage display to book his place in the quarter-finals of the World Snooker Championship with a session to spare after sweeping past Kyren Wilson 13-2 at the Crucible.
The four-time champion – who had endured a disappointing season with a string of early exits from ranking events – continued where he had left off after defeating David Grace 10-3 in his opening match.
The veteran 47-year-old Scot never looked back as he built a commanding 8-0 lead in yesterday’s opening session.
It was a clinical start from Higgins, who produced 136 and 137 total clearances, with two more half-centuries further extending his lead.
Wilson, who had made a maximum 147 break in the first round, was troubled by his cue – continually checking both the tip and butt after missing what had looked routine chances.
Further breaks of 134 and 80 saw Higgins claim a remarkable first-session whitewash in the first-to-13 encounter.
Higgins edged the opening frame of the evening session 61-57 and then moved 10-0 ahead with another century break of 128.
Wilson finally got a frame on the board in the 11th with a run of 78, but it was Higgins who snatched the last before the mid-session interval as he recovered a points deficit of 60 with a snooker to edge closer to the quarter-finals.
Although Wilson pulled another back on the resumption, it was only delaying the inevitable, as Higgins took the 14th frame and then finished off the match with a break of 80 to book a 17th appearance in the last eight at the Crucible.
“I am over the moon just to beat Kyren, but to beat him with a session to spare I would never have believed that was possible,” Higgins said on Eurosport.
“I felt as if I could just play there all day. It felt really good, and you do not get that many times here.
It was amazing to be 8-0 and it was in my mind to just share the session four-all and be 12-4 in front going into the third session, but it is a bonus winning it, I now get a day off.
“I have been feeling as if this has been coming for the past month, that I could go on a run of breaks, and that is what you need to do here because I am going to come up against that sooner rather than later.”
On Table One, Si Jiahui continued his memorable Crucible debut to move within sight of the quarter-finals as he took an 11-5 lead over Robert Milkins.
Resuming 6-2 ahead from Saturday, world number 80 Si, the lowest-ranked player in the tournament and who beat Shaun Murphy in the first round, pushed on again and he is within two frames of the quarter-finals when he returns this afternoon.
Elsewhere in the second round, qualifier Anthony McGill also edged closer to the last eight after establishing an 11-5 advantage against Jack Lisowski.
It appeared the match would be all over on Sunday when McGill – who beat former champion Judd Trump in the first round – went 10-1 ahead before a run of four frames in a row for Lisowski.
Had the Englishman managed a fifth, nerves would really have been jangling for McGill, who began the session with a 7-1 advantage.
The Glaswegian, though, stopped Lisowski’s momentum to give himself some extra wriggle room heading into Monday evening’s conclusion.
Four-time world champion Mark Selby secured a 10-6 advantage over Gary Wilson.
Selby, bidding to regain the title he last claimed two years ago, resumed with a 5-3 lead.
Wilson won three of the first four frames to level at 6-6 before world number two Selby made breaks of 59, 91 and 71 to establish a defendable lead heading into the final session on Monday night.
