It’s a thrill for McGill as he downs Selby
SUPER Scot Anthony McGill c ontinued his dream Crucible debut last night as he knocked out defending champion Mark Selby to reach the world quarter-finals in Sheffield.
The 24-year-old from Glasgow was in irresistible form as he opened up a 10-6 lead in the morning session and he held his nerve admirably to see off Selby 13-9.
Qualifier McGill had beaten his compatriot Stephen McGuire 10-9 in the first round and he showed that was no fluke in the way he dispensed with last year’s winner.
McGill turned professional five years ago and has l ong been considered as an emerging talent from the conveyor belt north of the border.
A practice partner of fellow Glaswegian Alan McManus, his previous best performance was reaching the quarter-finals of last year’s UK Championship.
But now he is into the last eight in Sheffield having claimed such a notable scalp as Selby, he could just be Scotland’s next big thing.
McGill will play the winner of the match between Shaun Murphy and Joe Perry in the quarter-finals.
Meanwhile, another Scot — fourtime world champion John Higgins — faces a battle to join McGill in the last eight.
He saw Ding Junhui come out firing in the second session of their last-16 clash yesterday afternoon.
China’s No 1 trailed 5- 1 on Thursday and 7- 5 yesterday in Sheffield in the marquee last-16 tie before winning four frames on the spin to lead 9-7 overnight.
The best-of-25-frame match finishes this morning — with Ding looking to improve on a largely dismal record at the World Championship venue.
The world No 3, who has won 11 ranking titles including a recordequalling five last season, has only been to one semi-final and got past this round on one further occasion.
But four-time world champion Higgins, 39, was left kicking himself after letting Ding off the hook in the last frame of the day when he led 57-0.
Scot Higgins, who had led 5-1 at one point in the match, started the second session 5-3 up, having let a great chance of a 6-1 advantage slip away on Thursday.
And initially t he momentum continued to be with Ding, as he quickly levelled things up in half an hour, helped by breaks of 49 and 80.
Higgins, who reaches the age of 40 next month, rallied to forge two frames clear once again with breaks of 55 and 68.
But then Ding, whose ability to perform at the Crucible has come under much scrutiny, showed some mettle with a three-frame blast.
Breaks of 66, 64 and 92 had Higgins once again on the back foot with one to play.
And there was another cruel twist to come for Higgins, who led 57-0 in the last of the day, as Ding cleared up with 59 to the black to move 9-7 ahead.
Meanwhile, Northern Ireland’s Mark Allen holds a 5-3 lead over Barry Hawkins after they got their second-round match under way yesterday afternoon.