Higgins digs deep to keep his Crucible dream alive

The three-time former Crucible king trailed Mark Williams 9-5 during their second session and was coming under a hail of potting fire from the Welshman.

But Higgins dug in to pinch the next two frames, thriving under intense pressure as he put himself firmly back into contention for a fifth appearance in the Crucible final.

Steve Davis, the six-time world champion, likened the Scot's resilience to that of the movie cyborg killer played by Arnold Schwarzenegger.

"It reminds me of the Terminator film," said Steve Davis, the six-time champion. "The only way you're going to knock him out is to have one of those big presses."

Rather than inflict death by hydraulic press, Williams must today come out and pot Higgins out of the tournament in the first-to-17-frames duel.

Williams led 5-3 after Thursday's first session and looked sure to stretch his lead, only for his opponent to demonstrate impressive resolve.

"Many players would have been swamped by how Williams was playing," former champion John Parrott said. "He will be thinking to himself, 'How did I not win that session 5-3 or 6-2'."

Williams hit a purple patch during the second session, in which he made two centuries in three frames. Beginning with a 5-3 advantage, Williams did not have a large break in the opening frame but took it without Higgins potting a ball.

Roles were reversed when Higgins made an 84 break to take the next frame 106-0. Then Williams began his hot streak with a break of 115, which ended in frustration for him.

From the early stages he had his eye on the highest break prize of 10,000 but missed the green.

Mark King, who had a 138 in his first-round loss to Graeme Dott, is currently on track to pick up that bonus, but he must have been squirming at home when Higgins looked set to make 140.

Williams clearly expected to clear up the colours and swished his cue in anger above the table when the green stayed up. There was another chance to set the top break of the tournament in the next frame for Williams but after eight reds, seven blacks and a blue the break came to an end.

Higgins had a reprieve, runs of 42 and 17 brought him close, and he fired in a long blue to edge ahead before sinking a clinching pink. Williams responded by rattling in 103, and then pinched a low-scoring 14th frame to go 9-5 ahead.

It was essential that Higgins at least split the final two frames with the in-form cueman, but the 35-year-old did better than that, taking them both, aided by runs of 40 and 42. They resume this morning and play to a finish in the evening.

Ding Junhui gained control of his semi-final against Judd Trump as he won six out of eight frames in their second session, before they returned to resume their battle last night. Sheffield-based Chinese potter Ding had not gone beyond the second round in four previous Crucible campaigns but he now stands every chance of reaching his first final.

The 24-year-old took advantage of Trump's first poor session of the tournament to move from 5-3 behind to 9-7 ahead, and he added the first of the evening. He actually won six frames in a row from 7-4 down, as 21-year-old Trump's form deserted him.

Ding's match is being watched by a vast television audience in China and he is attempting to keep his mind off the expectations of him at home.

"I think a lot of people would like to watch my first match in the semi-finals but I don't want to think about that, I just want to concentrate on my game," Ding said.

He was managing to do so, against the player who won a host of new fans when he landed the China Open title at the start of April. "He's a nice boy. He's got a lot of girlfriends, many girlfriends in China," Ding said of Trump. "I don't know if he's more popular than me, you'd have to ask him."