Scottish Open snooker: Ronnie O'Sullivan thrashed 5-0 by John Higgins in QFs
Title favourite Ronnie O'Sullivan was thrashed 5-0 by a rampant John Higgins in the quarter-finals of the Scottish Open.
Home hope Higgins was in sensational form, scoring three centuries in the contest and enjoying a run of at least 55 in every frame.
A 55 saw him take the first frame before he took full control with breaks of 109, 117 and 105 - a period of play which saw Higgins responsible for 331 of the 332 points scored.
O'Sullivan at least had some hope of an unlikely comeback when he moved 60-0 up in the fifth frame but he let Higgins in and the Scot rammed home 72 to complete victory and set up a semi-final with Neil Roberston.
Robertson also produced snooker of the highest order to beat Xiao Guodong 5-4 and advance to the last four.
The Australian potted a wonderful long red with his first shot of the deciding frame, before a remarkable red to middle shortly after opened up a frame and match-winning opportunity.
Robertson took it with a 79 break to edge a thrilling encounter, in which Xiao had levelled the scores with a sensational 73 break of his own from an unpromising position.
While much of the focus in Glasgow has been on O'Sullivan and Higgins, Robertson has been back to his best, producing eight centuries including a 143 clearance in his opening match.
Now down at 20th in the world rankings, he's sure to vault back up towards the top of the tree in this form, the left-hander displaying the kind of long-potting prowess for which he's long been known.
The other semi-final will see Judd Trump meet Cao Yupeng.
Trump was a convincing winner as he swept past Stephen Maguire 5-2, whule Yupeng saw off Ricky Walden 5-3 in what was a scrappy contest in the evening session.
Quarter-finals (Best of 9 frames)
Afternoon session
- Xiao Guodong 4-5 Neil Robertson
- Stephen Maguire 2-5 Judd Trump
Evening session (1900 GMT)
- John Higgins 5-0 Ronnie O'Sullivan
- Ricky Walden 3-5 Cao Yupeng