Higgins, Selby sweep into world semi-finals
SHEFFIELD, United Kingdom: John Higgins and defending champion Mark Selby both cruised into the semi-finals of the World Championships at the Crucible in Sheffield, northern England on Wednesday.
Higgins, 41, converted an overnight 11- 5 lead into a 13- 6 victory over Kyren Wilson to reach the last four for the first time since winning the last of his four world titles in 2011.
He will now face either Barry Hawkins or Stephen Maguire for a place in the final.
“In the couple of years after what happened in 2011, I’ve been losing and my form wasn’t great, and you think you won’t get back to the one-table set-up,” Higgins said, referring to having reached the quarter-finals.
“It’s the best place in the world to get out and play. I can’t wait to walk back into the arena and it’s just the one table again. I’m buzzing.”
Until the quarters, the arena is divided by a partition with two matches going on simultaneously, whereas from the last eight onwards, there is only one match -- and thus one table -- taking place in the centre of the arena.
Selby twice set a new mark for the tournament’s highest break as he strolled to a 13-3 success against Hong Kong’s Marco Fu.
Selby made 139 in the 13th frame and followed it up with a sublime 143 two minutes later, confirming his status as tournament favourite.
His efforts surpassed Stuart Bingham’s 137, set earlier in the event, and leave Selby in line for the £ 10,000 ( US$ 12,830, 11,780 euros) top break prize.
Selby will now face either fivetime champion Ronnie O’Sullivan or Chinese fourth seed Ding Junhui. — AFP