Snooker:John Higgins punished an unforgivable series of mistakes by Ronnie O'Sullivan tonight as he came out on top in their World Championship quarter-final in Sheffield.
The Scot had trailed 8-5 during the afternoon session but won eight of the next 10 frames to tie up a 13-10 victory.
In a high proportion of those frames, O’Sullivan led, missed reasonably easy balls and was made to pay by the opponent he regards as the most complete player in the sport.
Certainly Higgins proved himself a better finisher tonight than his fellow three-time former Crucible champion, sealing his victory with a fine break of 79 which began with a fluke.
O’Sullivan began the day by surging from 4-4 to his three-frame lead, making breaks of 82, 77 and 47 in the process.
He looked in charge but wasted early openings in the 14th and 15th frames to let Higgins off the hook as the Scot took both and added the next with an 80 break to draw level.
Higgins came into the evening session with momentum on his side and was served up more early gifts.
O’Sullivan twice presented Higgins with scoring chances which he took to seize a commanding lead. That left O’Sullivan requiring two snookers, which he got.
O’Sullivan put Higgins back in after the second of those after sportingly disputing the award of a free ball, but was left to regret it when Higgins fired in a difficult long final red, effectively clinching the frame.
It seemed an irrational move, but O’Sullivan put it behind him and a break of 116 drew him level at 9-9.
The champion of 2001, 2004 and 2008 threatened to come from 66-0 behind to win the next frame, but after doing the initial hard work of clearing the final six reds, he played a careless safety shot which left Higgins a simple yellow.
O’Sullivan again squandered a frame-winning opportunity to lose the next, missing a simple red, and at 11-9 behind he went to the interval with plenty to consider.
Something changed for O’Sullivan when he began seeing sports psychiatrist Dr Steve Peters earlier this month, after changing his mind about withdrawing from the championship and seeking a way to regain his enthusiasm.
And it seemed as though something had changed during the interval too for the world number 10 when he began brightly, only to miss another red while stretching. Higgins rolled in a break of 73 and was one frame from victory.
A 94 from O’Sullivan delayed the denouement, but when Higgins fluked a red in the middle at the start of the next frame and found himself with an easy black, O’Sullivan must have known the game was up.
It soon was, and Higgins goes on to face Mark Williams in a semi-final which gets under way tomorrow evening.
Williams reached his first Crucible semi-final since the year he won his second world title as he finished off Mark Allen’s challenge on Wednesday morning.
The 36-year-old Welshman triumphed at the World Championship in 2000 and 2003 but has struggled for results in Sheffield in the years since, reaching just one quarter-final in seven years prior to his current run.
He led Northern Ireland cueman Allen 11-5 overnight and soon added the two frames he required, to win 13-5.
Allen left a red hanging over a pocket for Williams in the opening frame of the day, which proved costly as a 61 break followed.
When Allen missed a sitter of a red at 39-17 ahead in the next, Williams was in to fire a match-clinching clearance of 65.
Judd Trump booked his place in the last four, making no mistake this afternoon against Graeme Dott as he beat the Scot 13-5.
Trump, needing two frames, came from 47-4 behind with a break of 67 to go to 12-5 ahead, and finished off with a break of 78.
He will now face China’s Ding Junhui after he stalled a Mark Selby comeback to win 13-10.