Higgins on brink of historic comeback

John Higgins has turned potentially the heaviest-ever Crucible Theatre thrashing into what could be the greatest comeback win after two astonishing sessions of snooker against Ken Doherty at the Embassy World Championship.

Higgins was down and all-but out when he trailed the 1997 world champion 10-0.

But when the pair resume tomorrow afternoon Higgins, the Irishmans predecessor to the Embassy title, is ‘only’ 10-6 behind.

Doherty remains favourite to clinch a semi-final place against defending champion Peter Ebdon or Yorkshireman Paul Hunter.

However, Higgins still feels he has an outside chance of rescuing the match that most observers felt was heading for a 13-0 whitewash.

No player has suffered that embarrassment in a best of 25-frames match but no player has ever recovered a 10-frame deficit to win.

Indeed, when he trailed 10-0 the 27-year-old Scot was quoted as a 2,000-1 shot for the title.

Those odds have shortened after this recovery when Doherty finally began to show the effects of his two gruelling opening games that both went the distance - including a nine-hour marathon against Graeme Dott in round two.

However, the end of the session came just at the right time for the world number five from Dublin.

He lost the final frame of the night on the black after being 57-0 in front.

And Higgins also stole two other frames on the pink as the Irishman’s game began to collapse.

To add to the drama Higgins might have equalled Ronnie O’Sullivan’s 147 maximum break against Marco Fu.

The Wishaw wizard – spellbound by Doherty’s 10-frame salvo containing breaks of 107 and 112 – reached 113 in frame 11 before missing the 15th black.

This time he was seven balls away from the clearance after also squandering two presentable chances in his previous game against Sean Storey.

However, the century break prevented the whitewash and put him in a happier frame of mind for the remainder of the session.

Higgins requires seven of the final nine frames to supersede any other Crucible comeback and inflict a defeat on Doherty that could have serious repercussions for the rest of his career.