World Snooker Championship: John Higgins hammers Kyren Wilson 13-2 to reach Crucible quarter-finals | Snooker News

April 23, 2023 admin

John Higgins thrashes Kyren Wilson 13-2 to advance to quarter-finals of World Snooker Championship; four-time winner was 10-0 up during dominant performance at The Crucible; Higgins will face either Mark Selby or Gary Wilson in the last eight

Last Updated: 23/04/23 11:07pm

John Higgins trounced Kyren Wilson 13-2 to remain in the mix for a fourth World Snooker Championship title

John Higgins produced a superb display to book his place in the quarter-finals of the World Snooker Championship with a session to spare after thrashing Kyren Wilson 13-2 at The Crucible.

The 47-year-old, who won the most recent of his four world titles in 2011, whitewashed 2020 finalist Wilson 8-0 in their opening session on Sunday morning and extended his lead to 10-0 later that evening before his opponent finally chalked up his first frame.

Higgins began the match with breaks of 136 and 137 to take a 2-0 lead and never looked back against Wilson, who had lit up the arena in his previous round by making the 13th maximum break in the World Championship.

Higgins, who will face Mark Selby or Gary Wilson in the last eight, said on Eurosport: “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.

“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.”

Mark Selby is 10-6 to the good against Gary Wilson

Selby, McGill and Si in command of their last-16 matches

Higgins’ fellow four-time world champion Selby is his most likely opponent in the quarter-finals with the latter winning the final four frames to establish a 10-6 lead over Gary Wilson in the race to 13.

China’s Si Jiahui is two frames away from a last-eight appearance on debut after moving 11-5 to the good against Robert Milkins, while Anthony McGill leads Jack Lisowski by the same score.

McGill was 10-1 in front before Lisowski reeled off four frames in a row to reduce his arrears to fives, only for McGill to take the final frame of their second session in Sheffield.

The winner of McGill vs Lisowski will meet Si or Milkins in the quarter-finals.