Higgins digs deep to lead McCulloch

FORMER champion John Higgins recovered from a poor start to clinch a commanding lead over Ian McCulloch at the Crucible.

Higgins, the 1998 winner, looked out of sorts when he fell 3-1 behind but won the next five frames to secure a 6-3 overnight advantage.

The world number four is searching for his first ranking title since he won the British Open in October 2001.

Last month, he came close to capturing the Irish Masters but was edged out 10-9 by Ronnie O’Sullivan in a thrilling final.

McCulloch won the opening frame with a run of 59 and limited the Scot to just two points in moving from 1-1 to 3-1. McCulloch’s 93 break in the fourth could have been a 143 but he missed a black with two reds remaining.

Higgins had missed several balls and looked deep in trouble but dug himself out of the mire by recording breaks of 95, 83 and 51 to claim the final five frames of the session, moving to within four of a place in the last 16.

Sean Storey, from Grimsby who knocked out 13th seed Joe Perry on Sunday, is waiting in the last 16.

Alan McManus held the edge in a Crucible go-slow as he carved out a 5-1 lead over former runner-up Nigel Bond.

McManus, a semi-finalist in 1992 and 1993, pinched three frames on the black during a marathon session in which the average frame time was 30 minutes.

It was so slow that the three remaining scheduled frames could not be completed, leaving a possible 13 frames for the final session.

McManus, the world number 15 from Glasgow, captured the first frame by potting a brown which jumped out of a corner pocket, rolled along the top of the side cushion and dropped into the centre.

Bond, who lost to Stephen Hendry in the 1995 final, won the second frame but could not find any sort of rhythm.

McManus laboured on with a highest break of only 47 and needs five more frames for victory.

The winner faces 2001 champion Ronnie O’Sullivan or Marco Fu in the last 16.

Order of play for today: 1000: Alan McManus (Sco) v Nigel Bond (England) McManus leads 5-1, Matthew Stevens (Wal) v Chris Small (Sco)

1430: Jimmy White (Eng v James Wattana (Tha), Joe Swail (NIrl) v Tony Drago (Mal)

1845: John Higgins (Sco) v Ian McCulloch (Eng) Higgins leads 6-3, Ronnie O’Sullivan (Eng) v Marco Fu (Hkg).