Lisowski’s agonising loss
JACK Lisowski suffered Crucible heartache as four-time world champion John Higgins edged an absolutely titanic quarter-final 13-12 on Wednesday evening.
The Gloucestershire cueman lost a final-frame decider to the Scot, who sealed a World Championship semifinal and an historic achievement for the fabled ‘Class of 92’.
After earlier wins for Ronnie O’Sullivan and Mark Williams, Higgins’ success marks the first time the trio – who all turned professional 30 years ago – have reached the last four at the Crucible since 1999. The ‘Wizard of Wishaw’ now faces O’Sullivan, who swiftly dispatched Stephen Maguire, while Williams battled past Yan Bingtao to set up a last-four clash with 2019 champion Judd Trump, from Bristol.
“We’ve got three of us who all came through in 1992 and we’re into the semi-finals 30 years later,” said Williams, who at 47 is the oldest semi-finalist since Ray Reardon in 1985. “What other sport can do something like that? It doesn’t really happen.”
Higgins stood on the brink of defeat when Lisowski, who stunned favourite Neil Robertson in the last eight, retrieved a 11-9 deficit to take the lead for the first time since the first frame of the match.
But the 46-year-old drew on his decades of experience to respond with a century to force the decider, then seized on an early missed red by Lisowski to compile a matchwinning break of 72.
“I really don’t know where those two frames came from at the end,” admitted Higgins. “I was struggling all day and I had not been taking my chances. You’ve just got to find a way to get over the winning line.”
Trump recovered from a dismal opening session of the day to reel off eight frames in succession and sink Stuart Bingham 13-8. Bingham had turned a 5-3 deficit into an 8-5 lead, but that only proved the trigger for a spectacular comeback.
The Bristolian then maintained his charge in yesterday’s opening session of the semi-final against Williams, taking a 7-1 advantage.