Higgins relishing O'Sullivan battle

John Higgins knows the crowd will be on Ronnie O’Sullivan’s side when their Betfred.com World Championship quarter-final resumes today.

The opening session saw O’Sullivan come from 4-2 and 35-0 behind to hold Higgins level at 4-4.

Now they face afternoon and evening action to determine who goes forward to the final four.

Higgins should be leading, but in the seventh frame he missed a straightforward black off its spot and sharp punishment followed.

O’Sullivan conjured an exquisite 89 break and followed it with a rapid 105 in which referee Leo Scullion was almost chasing him around the table to respot the colours.

Higgins never had any doubt the contest with O’Sullivan would be an experience to savour.

“It’s always a great occasion, wherever you play him,” Higgins said.

“He’s got the Jimmy White and Alex Higgins factor. The crowd are on his side and that generates a buzz that you love playing in.

“Playing O’Sullivan anywhere probably generates the same buzz as playing in a final against most other people.”

The parallels between the pair are hard to ignore.

Both men are 35 years old, have three world titles behind them and entered this contest level on 104 Crucible centuries. Make that 105 now, after O’Sullivan’s closing ton and Higgins’ total clearance of 121 in the sixth frame.

Higgins holds the edge in the number of ranking events they have won, 23 to O’Sullivan’s 22, after landing the UK Championship and Welsh Open titles since his return from a six-month suspension.

O’Sullivan arrived in Sheffield having not won a ranking event match since September.

He is a big Higgins admirer.

“John’s given everyone half a season start and still won more than everyone else,” O’Sullivan said.

“He’s been the best player in the world for the last three or four years probably.”

Mark Selby was favourite for the title as he headed into his quarter-final against China’s Ding Junhui, but the Leicester man trailed 5-3 ahead of morning and evening sessions today.

Selby set a tournament record with six centuries in his last-16 win against Stephen Hendry and began with a 124 against Ding.

However, Ding soon took charge, and Selby needed a final-frame 74 to stay in touch.

Judd Trump, the 21-year-old qualifier who was rated an 80/1 world title outsider only last month, leads 11-5 against last year’s runner-up Graeme Dott. The winner plays Ding or Selby in the semi-finals.

After a tantrum from Dott, when he lashed out at the white in exasperation, the experienced Scot belatedly found form at 11-2 down last night and took the final three frames.

He almost had a 147 but missed the yellow in the 15th frame, ending on 120, before adding 122 in the next to cut into Trump’s lead. They resume this afternoon.

Mark Williams, the 2000 and 2003 world champion, was 11-5 up on Mark Allen heading into this morning’s resumption, finishing off their evening session with breaks of 104 and 113. The winner plays Higgins or O’Sullivan.