JOHN HIGGINS finished off Stephen Lee last night to pass his first test at the Betfred.com World Championship.

Ronnie O’Sullivan begins his Betfred.com World Championship campaign today – 11 days after ruling himself out of the tournament.

Neil Robertson was facing a battle to stay in the Betfred.com World Championship after Judd Trump made life difficult for last year’s winner in their first-round clash.

Ronnie O'Sullivan's miserable run continued today as he was eliminated from the Bank of Beijing China Open at the first-round stage.

Ronnie O’Sullivan and John Higgins were today handed tough-looking first-round draws for this year’s Betfred.com World Snooker Championship.

John Higgins admitted he was "all over the place" after returning to action for the first time since his father's death with a workmanlike 4-3 win over youngster Jack Lisowski today.

China's Ding Junhui and Marco Fu of Hong Kong made history at Wembley today as they set up the first all-Asian final in the history of snooker's marquee tournaments.

Marco Fu produced a stunning comeback to see off Irishman Mark Allen and reach his first Wembley final.

World number four Ali Carter came from 4-1 down to beat Matthew Stevens in a thrilling Shanghai Masters quarter-final today.

Ronnie O’Sullivan will need to be on his best behaviour when he returns for the conclusion of his opening match this afternoon at the Betfred.com World Championship.

Ronnie O’Sullivan was told to cut out the nonsense after he made a rude gesture during his opening match at the Betfred.com World Championship at the Crucible.

KEN DOHERTY kissed goodbye to the Betfred.com World Championship as Mark Selby charged through to the second round on a 10-4 scoreline.

John Higgins offered a hint of weakness to his title rivals before eventually showing his world champion class to clinch an opening-day victory at the Crucible.

Ken Doherty will play England's Mark Selby in the first round of the Betfred.com World Snooker Championship, it was announced today.

Defending Grand Prix champion John Higgins held his nerve to see off world number one Ronnie O’Sullivan 5-4 during a classic encounter in front of his home crowd.

Shaun Murphy dismantled Ken Doherty to record his second straight 5-0 win and book his place in the semi-finals of the Roewe Shanghai Masters.

Wales' Matthew Stevens proved too strong for Ireland’s Mark Allen at the Roewe Shanghai Masters today.

Stephen Maguire has pulled out of the Shanghai Masters with a shoulder injury.

John Higgins has set his sights on winning another two world titles after joining the small band of players to have triumphed three times.

John Higgins tonight won the third World Championship title of his career as he completed a crushing Crucible victory over Shaun Murphy.

John Higgins was hoping to avoid another nail-biting finish as he resumed his semi-final against Mark Allen in the Betfred.com World Championship today.

Mark Allen has called time on his trouble-causing days after admitting he was in danger of falling into the same traps which snared Alex Higgins.

Stephen Hendry rolled back the years with a magical maximum to underline his return to form at the Betfred.com World Championship.

John Higgins has pinpointed Jamie Cope and Mark Allen as the men who hold snooker’s future in their hands.

Shaun Murphy is thrilled to have outlasted Ronnie O’Sullivan at the Betfred.com World Championship.

John Higgins stormed through to the second round of the Betfred.com World Championship by turning on the style against Michael Holt.

Jamie Cope caused the first major upset of the Royal London Watches Grand Prix today when he dumped out world number two Stephen Maguire in Glasgow.

RONNIE O’SULLIVAN’S bid to become the first player in 15 years to win three successive ranking titles remains on course after he reached the quarter-finals of the Shanghai Masters.

Former world champions Shaun Murphy and Peter Ebdon were among four seeded casualties in the first round of the Shanghai Masters during early action today.

Stephen Hendry was today battling to avoid a second first-round exit in three years from the 888.com World Championships in Sheffield.

Former world champions Peter Ebdon and Mark Williams are through to the last-16 stage of the Honghe Industrial China Open.

Graeme Dott’s miserable season continued as the defending champion crashed out of the Honghe Industrial China Open at the first hurdle.

Defending champion Neil Robertson wasted little time booking his place in the last 16 of this year’s Welsh Open.

Mark Selby kept his concentration to earn a semi-final showdown with crowd favourite Ronnie O’Sullivan at the Maplin UK Championship.

Crowd favourite Ronnie O’Sullivan booked his place in the semi-finals of this year’s Maplin UK Championship with a convincing victory over Stoke’s Jamie Cope.

Crowd favourite Ronnie O’Sullivan took a commanding 6-2 lead over Stoke young gun Jamie Cope after the opening session of their quarter-final clash at the Maplin UK Championship.

The quarter final line-up at the UK Snooker Championship is now complete and the first of the matches gets underway at 2pm this afternoon.

World number five Ronnie O’Sullivan raced to a 9-1 victory over former practice partner Mark King to book a place in the quarter-finals of the Maplin UK Championship but, typically, was still not satisfied with his performance.

Ronnie O’Sullivan wasted little time in winning the two frames he needed for a place in the quarter-finals of this year’s Maplin UK Championship.

Australian ace Neil Robertson had plenty to smile about after powering his way into the last 16 stage of the Northern Ireland Trophy today.

World champion Graeme Dott leads young gun Jamie Cope 6-2 in this year’s Honghe Industrial China Open final.

Jamie Cope held his nerve under intense pressure to earn a showdown with world champion Graeme Dott in tomorrow’s China Open final.

World champion Graeme Dott beat Ronnie O’Sullivan in the first semi-final of today’s China Open.

Barry Hawkins and Jamie Cope will clash in the second of this year’s China Open semi-finals tomorrow.