Ron’s class of 92
Higgins can’t find an answer to the Rocket’s magic as he loses big clash of golden oldies
John Higgins suffered heartache as Ronnie O’Sullivan stayed on course to knock Stephen Hendry off his perch at the Betfred World Championship.
The Rocket ensured Higgins’ season of agony ended with more pain with a 17-11 semifinal success last night and now faces Judd Trump in the final.
World No.1 O’Sullivan is the closest he’s ever been to levelling Hendry’s record seven Crucible crowns, which has stood since 1999.
Gutted Higgins, who has lost five major finals this season, ref lected: “I’m disappointed with the way I played.
“As an occasion sharing the stage with the great man over three days again was amazing.
I’m just bitterly disappointed with the way I played.
“The way I was hitting the ball the last couple of days I wasn’t coming back there.
“Ronnie was lethal. I don’t think I can count how many times he missed one in and about the balls.
“He’s a different animal than he’s ever been on the table.
“I was really poor. He was lethal. The way I’ve been playing the whole tournament, I had one session where I actually felt good. I was just scrapping and you can’t beat Ronnie scrapping the balls about.”
Misfiring Higgins resumed 15-9 behind in the evening after O’Sullivan stretched his overnight 10- 6 lead with breaks of 134, 121, 101, 84 and 54. The Scot won the first frame with a 69 visit but O’Sullivan finished the job with 67 and 83 runs.
“I was amazed with the way John played. He put the frames scrappy, that’s not like John,” admitted the Rocket.
“This venue just plays tricks with your mind. It’s really tough.
“I don’t feel tired, it’s just a difficult tournament. It’s 17 days. Some people take to it a bit better than others.”
Trump withstood one of the great Crucible fightbacks to reach his third final.
Triple champion Mark Williams battled back from 9- 2 and 12- 5 down but suf fered heartache with a painful 17-16 defeat in a cracker.
World No. 4 Trump said: “There are just so many emotions going through me. I think that’s probably my best ever win. He was absolutely incredible. It was like playing a computer game on hard towards the end.
“He played unbelievable and I just sat there and watched it. It would have made it easier to take because I wasn’t playing that badly. I was just praying he’d start missing them towards the end. I kind of got all of my luck at the end.”
Williams, 47, would have become the oldest finalist s ince compat r iot Ray Reardon 40 years ago.
“I hit him with everything and just came up a little short,” admi t ted Wi l l iams , who levelled Hendry’s 20-year record of 16 centuries in a single World finals tournament.
“It was a great match to be involved in. It’s unfortunate it’s another decider I’ve lost.”