Higgins one frame away but lets marathon with Xiao go to another session
OH NO: John Higgins after missing a shot during his match agains Xiao Guodong during day eight of the Halo World Snooker Championship at the Crucible Theatre, Sheffield. Pic: PA Wire
Four-time champion John Higgins is one frame away from booking his place in the quarter-finals of the World Snooker Championship after his marathon clash against Xiao Guodong could not be decided inside three sessions.
Facing a race against time to complete the match before the afternoon action commenced, Higgins won two frames in a row after the mid-session interval but was frustrated by Xiao with the winning post in sight, as the Chinese star battled back to make it 12-11 just over four hours after the session began.
The pair will return to finish the match on Saturday evening, playing on the first available table following the scheduled matches.
There had been nothing to separate them after each of the first two sessions, which finished at 4-4 and 8-8 respectively.
And the third session followed the same pattern as no player led by more than one frame until after the interval on Saturday, with Higgins bouncing back from losing the opener by taking the next two before Xiao levelled things up at 10-10 by winning a mammoth frame that lasted more than an hour.
Scotland's Higgins came out firing after the interval, making a break of 84 to take the 21st frame - his 2,000th at the Crucible.
With time running out in the session, Higgins managed to take the next frame despite missing a fairly straightforward pink at 65-0 up to open the door for Xiao, who was unable to amass the points he needed to overturn his deficit.
Requiring just one more frame to win the match at 13.40pm, the 49-year-old appeared on course for victory but let Xiao back in and was punished.
Zhao Xintong leads Chinese compatriot Lei Peifan 10-6 after winning the morning session 5-3.
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