Higgins takes advantage of Robertson misfortune

Published on Tuesday 8 December 2009 22:37

WORLD champion John Higgins held off a stiff challenge from Neil Robertson to book his place in the UK Championship quarter-finals with a 9-8 win in Telford.

It was a thrilling encounter between two players who seem to bring the best out of each other – though it was tough on Robertson who suffered a moment of bad fortune in the final frame.

Higgins got in with an excellent long opener after Robertson missed a tough red to the right middle which seemed to be affected by a kick. From there the Scot did not look back, producing a nerveless break of 69 to leave Robertson needing a snooker, which the Australian could not find. The win was a relief for Higgins, who had led 4-1 before Robertson fought back to leave the match finely balanced at the end of the first session at 5-3 to the Scot.

Robertson opened last night with breaks of 127 and 78 to level things up, but Higgins again pulled away to lead 8-6. The tension seemed to get the better of Higgins as a couple of careless errors allowed Robertson to come back yet again, but he held his nerve at the vital moment to seal his progress with a gritty break.

It was revenge for Higgins, who lost out to Robertson 6-5 in a classic semi-final of October's Grand Prix which went to down to the final black.

Elsewhere, world No2 Stephen Maguire wasted little time booking his place in the quarter-finals with a 9-3 win over Stuart Bingham. Leading 6-2 from the first session, the Scot took three of the first four frames this evening to ease through the best-of-17 last-16 tie. After taking a scrappy ninth frame, Maguire found form with a run of 103 to put him within one of victory. Bingham pulled one back but Maguire sealed his progress with a break of 58.

Liang Wenbo needed only three frames to turn his 7-1 lead over Mark King into a 9-2 victory, while Ali Carter beat Stephen Lee 9-5.

Ronnie O'Sullivan made light work of his last-16 clash against Peter Ebdon, sealing a 9-3 win. Leading 6-2 after notching two centuries in the afternoon, O'Sullivan needed four frames to progress last night.

Veteran Leeds potter Peter Lines continued his surprise run with a 9-8 win in a tense match against two-time world champion Mark Williams.

Stephen Hendry, who described playing snooker as "torture" after his scrappy win against Steve Davis, continued to struggle as he lost 9-5 to Mark Selby.

And Ding Junhui came through his match against defending champion Shaun Murphy, finishing his 9-5 win in style with a break of 113 in the final frame.