Higgins finds Williams too hot to handle in Sheffield
FLOYD MAYWEATHERstyle jabs and the “best shot-maker in the game” dumped John Higgins out of the World Championship at the Crucible.
The four-time world champion went down to a shock 13-7 defeat against fellow veteran Mark Williams as he was suffocated by his old rival on the Sheffield baize.
Williams, a three-time world champion himself, fired in three fluent century breaks to stun the Wizard of Wishaw and extend his wait for a first Crucible title since 2011.
Seven visits of 50-plus scores from the Welshman proved too hot for Higgins to handle and the Scot, ranked world No.5, reckons facing an in-form Williams is like stepping into the ring with Mayweather.
“I didn’t play well enough,” Higgins said. “Mark is the best shot-maker in the game
– it must be what it’s like to fight Floyd Mayweather. He’s just so clever. You can’t really open the balls up because then he can pot them as well as anyone, and that must be what it’s like [against Mayweather].
“He was hitting me with jabs all the way through that match. I was a bit confused for most of the game.
“He’s so clever in his allround game. I played okay at the start and he gave me a couple of chances, but I never took them.
“From 3-1 up, the game got away from me. It’s been a pretty bad tournament really. I never played well enough at any point during the tournament so it’s disappointing.”
Higgins struck a magical 147 maximum break at the World Championship last year and could not have come much closer to doing so once again against Williams, but he missed the 15th black when poised on 113.
The Scot added: “I’m disappointed with that because I thought I had a good chance of doing that. That was disappointing in front of the fans.”
Higgins had raced into a 3-1 lead after breaks of 58, 90 and 75 got him off to a flyer, but world No.12 Williams then rattled off nine frames on the spin to leave Higgins with a mountain to climb. It proved an insurmountable deficit for Higgins to overhaul and despite breaks of 113, 107 and 82, the Scot was dumped out in the last 16 for a second consecutive year.
One Scot is through to the quarter-finals though and that is Anthony McGill, who was still on a high after his decidingframe 85 clearance ended sixtime world champion Ronnie O’Sullivan’s hopes of Crucible history in a 13-12 thriller.
The Rocket was chasing Stephen Hendry’s record of seven Sheffield titles but McGill, who saw a 10-6 lead reeled in during the evening session, held himself together as consecutive breaks of 136 and 85 hauled him over the line.
“It actually felt pretty easy. I didn’t really see it as a decider – I just wanted to keep playing snooker,” McGill said. “I just loved it. I just had a mindset that there was going to be another frame afterwards. Then I got to the green and I thought: ‘this is actually a decider’, and I got over the line.
“You put a lot of effort in and it means so much to win matches like that.
“It’s definitely my best win. Ronnie really wanted it this week – there’s no doubt about that. He was targeting that seventh title.”
McGill will next meet 2015 world champion Stuart Bingham or world No.69 Jamie Jones.
“I don’t want to just win that, beat Ronnie and then lose in the next round,” the Scot said. “I want to win the next match as well, so I’ll be preparing for that.”