John in lead as he eyes a seventh final

JOHN Higgins will take a 5-3 lead into the second session of his Betfred World Championship semi-final with Kyren Wilson today.

The four-time Crucible champion raced into a 3-0 lead and then endured a mini Wilson fightback before clinching the final frame of the day.

Higgins forged ahead with breaks of 57, 65 and 77 before Wilson – in his first semi-final at the Crucible – finally got on the board before the mid-session interval.

The Scot restored his advantage after the resumption with a framewinning clearance of 69, but the 26-year-old found his form to claim the next two, including a brilliant break of 140 in the seventh.

But Wilson missed an inviting red in the final frame of the day and Higgins took advantage, clearing to the pink, as he aims to reach a seventh final in Sheffield.

Higgins had won a latenight thriller just the previous evening after he edged out Judd Trump in the quarterfinals.

The 42-year-old Scot eventually triumphed 13-12, being 5-3 down heading into Wednesday’s action and after a topsy-turvy tussle Trump made it 11-9.

However, a 134 helped Higgins take control and he clinched the deciding frame.

Meanwhile, England’s Barry Hawkins leads Welsh veteran Mark Williams 5-3 after the first session of their semifinal yesterday.

Hawkins, runner-up in 2013, started with a brilliant break of 129 and followed it up with 74.

Williams, aided by a clever three-ball plant, took the third with 88 but Hawkins won the next to go into the mid-session interval with a three-frame lead.

The big breaks briefly went missing, with the pair trading scrappy frames.

Williams then missed a tricky shot – using one rest balanced on another – at the start of the seventh, which gave Hawkins the opportunity to make a frame-winning 90.

But the two-time world champion responded with a 110 to close the gap back to two.