John Higgins hungry to return to the Crucible amid rumours of a breakaway tour in snooker

The four-time world champion's hopes of lifting the famous trophy for a fifth time - and first since 2011 - were ended by Kyren Wilson in the quarter-finals but he was quick to brush aside any talk that this was his final match at snooker's spiritual home.

Higgins had been linked with a prospective LIV-style breakaway during the build-up to this year's edition, which peaked with his incredible 13-12 victory over Mark Allen, while fellow legend Mark Williams fuelled the speculation following his first-round exit.

But Scotsman was full of positivity about the future despite the disappointment of defeat and said: "I'm committing to playing snooker now and I’m committing to trying to get back here. I don’t want that to be my final match at the Crucible. So, I’ll still be playing snooker.

"I think retirement is a long time away. There can be other things happening off the table that can be clouding your decisions. But right now it’s a long way away. The sport will have to retire me before I retire myself, simple as that."

Earlier in the tournament Judd Trump revealed he rejected offers to join a rival tour, claiming he "needs something with history and heritage".

Asked if he'd been approached, Higgins said: "No. But there’s a lot of hearsay and a lot of people talking telephone numbers and different things.

"Listen, I’m at a different stage of my career to someone like Judd Trump. He’ll be delighted to be trying to win these big events and different things, but if people are coming to offer certain players good amounts of money and the schedule could be a bit less hectic, you’d obviously have to listen to it and look at it.

"It’s the equivalent of the LIV golf, it would be guys like Ian Poulter and Lee Westwood being offered huge amounts. They’re maybe realistic enough to think they’re not going to win the majors anymore. I’d dearly love to still win majors, but I’ve got to be brutally honest, I’ve not won a major for three years.

"But right now, I don’t want this to be the last time I’m playing at the Crucible and if there had to be a choice between going to a tour where you’re not going to be playing at the Crucible again it would be such a difficult decision."

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World Snooker Championship: Draw and round-by-round results

ROUND ONE

Best of 19 frames (April 20-25)

• (1) Luca Brecel 9-10 David Gilbert
• (16) Robert Milkins 10-9 Pang Junxu
• (9) Ali Carter 7-10 Stephen Maguire
• (8) Shaun Murphy 10-5 Lyu Haotian
• (5) Mark Selby 6-10 Joe O’Connor
• (12) Kyren Wilson 10-1 Dominic Dale
• (13) John Higgins 10-6 Jamie Jones
• (4) Mark Allen 10-6 Robbie Williams
• (3) Judd Trump 10-5 Hossein Vafaei
• (14) Tom Ford 10-6 Ricky Walden
• (11) Zhang Anda 4-10 Jak Jones
• (6) Mark Williams 9-10 Si Jiahui
• (7) Ding Junhui 9-10 Jack Lisowski
• (10) Gary Wilson 5-10 Stuart Bingham
• (15) Barry Hawkins 8-10 Ryan Day
• (2) Ronnie O'Sullivan 10-1 Jackson Page

ROUND TWO

Best of 25 frames (April 25-29)

• David Gilbert 13-4 Robert Milkins (16)
• Stephen Maguire 13-9 Shaun Murphy (8)
• Joe O'Connor 6-13 Kyren Wilson (12)
• (13) John Higgins 13-12 Mark Allen (4)
• (3) Judd Trump 13-7 Tom Ford (14)
• Jak Jones 13-9 Si Jiahui
• Jack Lisowski 11-13 Stuart Bingham
• Ryan Day 7-13 Ronnie O'Sullivan (2)

QUARTER-FINALS

Best of 25 frames (All matches April 30-May 1)

• David Gilbert 13-8 Stephen Maguire (QF 1)
• (12) Kyren Wilson 13-8 John Higgins (13) (QF 2)
• (3) Judd Trump 9-13 Jak Jones (QF 3)
• Stuart Bingham 13-10 Ronnie O'Sullivan (2) (QF 4)

SEMI-FINALS

Best of 33 frames (May 2-4)

• David Gilbert v Kyren Wilson (SF 1)
• Jak Jones v Stuart Bingham (SF 2)

FINAL

Best of 35 frames (May 5-6)

• Winner SF 1 v Winner SF 2

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