Ronnie O’Sullivan thumped the table in frustration as John Higgins reeled in the seven-time world snooker champion in an enthralling second session of their second round match at the Crucible on Sunday night.
O’Sullivan twice led by five frames and looked set to cruise towards the quarter-finals at the expense of the out-of-sorts Scot, before Higgins drew on his decades of top-level experience to end the evening just two adrift at 9-7.
A pivotal final frame of the session proved too much for O’Sullivan, who gave the cushion a painful rap with his knuckles after missing an early red, before Higgins edged over the line to finish much the happier of the two players.
Higgins never got going in the early stages, but clawed out frame 14 despite fluffing an attempted escape from a snooker, and never looked back. He reeled in a 55-point deficit in the next, then held his nerve in an edgy last frame of the night in which both players went in-off at crucial moments.
Earlier, defending champion Zhao Xintong moved closer to cracking the so-called ‘Crucible Curse’ by booking his place back in the quarter-finals with a 13-9 win over compatriot Ding Junhui.
Zhao shrugged off some evident nerves to build on a 9-7 overnight advantage despite losing an error-strewn, 46-minute opener that saw Ding temporarily reduce the arrears to a single frame.
The 29-year-old – looking to become the first first-time winner to retain his title at the Crucible – capitalised on a series of misses by his opponent to pull away, a break of 108 in the penultimate frame helping seal a last eight clash with Shaun Murphy.
“Today I think there was more pressure,” Zhao told BBC Sport. “I know Ding didn’t play very well in the last session but the pressure is very big. This year I just don’t want to lose any match so it feels very different.”
World number one Judd Trump inched closer to booking his place in the quarter-finals after establishing a 9-7 overnight lead in a pulsating contest against Iran’s Hossein Vafaei.
Resuming at 4-4, Trump struggled to get into his stride as his inspired opponent edged 7-6 in front, but Trump responded brilliantly, a century followed by further breaks of 74 and 94 seeing him end their second session with a precious advantage.
Neil Robertson took advantage of a controversial moment in the 14th frame of his clash with Chris Wakelin to move four clear at 10-6 ahead of Monday’s conclusion.
Wakelin was well in the ascendency when he potted a long red, but a foul was called by referee Peggy Li who noticed him feather the yellow ball in the process.
Wakelin clearly did not agree with the referee’s call but the decision stood after Li called for a replay, and Robertson capitalised to take the frame with a 65 break, before further breaks of 65 and 101 took him to the brink of his first last eight appearance since 2021.
