Snooker: Fortune favours Higgins and O’Sullivan

Ronnie O’Sullivan and John Higgins can both move a stage closer today to proving right the Glasgow nightclub fortune teller who predicted they would meet in this year’s Embassy World Championship final.

Higgins was approached by the supposed psychic at the turn of the year and was informed that fate had decreed he would meet O’Sullivan in the Sheffield showdown on Sunday and Monday.

O’Sullivan is certainly doing his bit to ensure the prophecy is fulfilled and should complete a convincing quarter-final victory over Peter Ebdon today after whitewashing his opponent in the second session for a 12-4 lead.

Second seed Higgins is also favourite to reach the semi-finals at the expense of Ken Doherty having hit back from 3-1 down to take a 5-3 advantage by winning every frame after the interval in their opening stint.

O’Sullivan, now the bookies’ favourite to win the title for the first time, had been kept in check by Ebdon early in their contest even though his opponent had endured a 10½-hour marathon against Stephen Lee the night before.

Both played some high-quality snooker as the first session ended 4-4 with each recording a century break.

But O’Sullivan later pulled away even though he did not add any further tons to his tally, runs of 89, 67, 65, 64, 57 and 54 (twice) proving enough to leave the 12th seed shell-shocked.

Matthew Stevens was this morning expected to be the first man into the last four as he required only one more frame to end the challenge of seven-time former champion Stephen Hendry, who was patently out of sorts.

Joe Swail will have to produce another of his amazing comebacks if his interest in the tournament is to continue as the 16th seed trailed his lifelong friend and practice partner Patrick Wallace 6-2 having been totally outplayed.

Today’s order of play in the Embassy World Championship at the Crucible Theatre, Sheffield (prefix denotes seeding)

Quarter-finals (best of 25 frames):

10am (3) S Hendry (Sco) v (6) M Stevens (Wal) (Stevens leads 11-5)

(16) J Swail (NIrl) v P Wallace (NIrl) (Wallace leads 6-2);

2.30pm (4) R O’Sullivan (Eng) v (12) P Ebdon (Eng) (O’Sullivan leads 12-4)

(2) J Higgins (Sco) v (7) K Doherty (Irl) (Higgins leads 5-3)

6.45pm Higgins v Doherty, Swail v Wallace.