So long John
Young gun Zhou wrecks Higgins’ bid for title No.4
MISFIRING John Higgins had a horror show as he crashed out of the UK Championship.
The three-time champion suffered a shock 6-2 defeat by Chinese whizkid Zhou Yuelong at Milton Keynes’ Marshall Arena.
World No.25 Zhou was born in the same year Higgins won his first world title, 1998.
But the Scot’s first loss to the talented young gun ended his bid for a famous fourth UK crown in the last 16.
Higgins said: “It was a bad day really. I never got anything going at all. I left myself too much to do, I was never going to come back.
“Zhou was missing and they were my chances, it wasn’t like I was creating anything.
“He played well, his safety was good but I just never got going at all.
“I played such a bad safety shot on the pink and he cut it in to go 5-1. I went all out for the maximum in the next frame and had a great chance of getting it. But it wasn’t to be.”
Zhou raced into a commanding 4-0 interval lead with top breaks of 90 and 60.
But the world No.6 got on the board as he snatched the fifth frame on the black with a counter clearance of 71.
Zhou reclaimed his fourframe cushion before Higgins squandered the chance of his third maximum in five months when he missed the 11th red as he closed to 5-2.
But the youngster held his nerve under pressure to send the four-time world champion spinning out for the biggest win of his fledgling career. He will face either fellow Chinese player Xiao Guodong or English potter Jack Lisowski in his maiden Triple Crown quarter-final clash.
Anthony McGill lost four frames on the bounce to bow out 6-4 to Neil Robertson.
The Glaswegian, a World Championship semi-finalist in August, showed his class with breaks of 100, 69 and 127 to lead 4-2.
But two-time UK champion Robertson roared back with 94, 83, 132 and 82 to keep his title charge firmly on track.
Last Scot standing is former world champion Graeme Dott who faces Kyren Wilson tonight for a quarter-final berth.