Ronnie O’Sullivan thumped the table in frustration as John Higgins reeled in the seven-time world snooker champion in an enthralling second session of their second round match at the Crucible on Sunday night.
O’Sullivan twice led by five frames and looked set to cruise towards the quarter-finals at the expense of the out-of-sorts Scot, before Higgins drew on his decades of top-level experience to end the evening just two adrift at 9-7.
A pivotal final frame of the session proved too much for O’Sullivan, who gave the cushion a painful rap with his knuckles after missing an early red, before Higgins edged over the line to finish much the happier of the two players.
Higgins never got going in the early stages, but clawed out frame 14 despite fluffing an attempted escape from a snooker, and never looked back. He reeled in a 55-point deficit in the next, then held his nerve in an edgy last frame of the night in which both players went in-off at crucial moments.
Earlier, Zhao Xintong moved closer to cracking the so-called “Crucible Curse” as he booked his quarter-final place, wrapping up a hard-fought 13-9 win over compatriot Ding Junhui.
The defending champion shrugged off some evident nerves to build on a 9-7 overnight advantage despite losing an error-strewn, 46-minute opener that saw Ding temporarily reduce the arrears to a single frame.
The 29-year-old – who is looking to become the only first-time winner to retain his title at the Crucible – capitalised on a series of misses by his opponent to pull away. Zhao produced a break of 108 in the penultimate frame as he set up a last-eight clash with Shaun Murphy.
“Today I think there was more pressure,” Zhao told BBC Sport. “I know Ding didn’t play very well in the last session, but the pressure is very big. This year I just don’t want to lose any match, so it feels very different.”
Wu Yize fashioned a 9-7 lead over four-time champion Mark Selby in an intriguing clash that is also set to conclude on Monday afternoon.
Selby had threatened to overwhelm his opponent after firing successive centuries in the first two frames, but the 22-year-old Wu hit back to haul level at 4-4 after their opening session.
And it was the Chinese player who dominated upon their return in the evening, pulling clear at 9-6 before Selby chiselled out the final frame of the night to keep himself within touching distance.
Neil Robertson closed in on the quarter-finals as he established a 10-6 lead over Chris Wakelin, while Judd Trump edged 9-7 ahead against qualifier Hossein Vafaei.
