John Higgins and Ronnie O'Sullivan

World Snooker results: John Higgins v Ronnie O'Sullivan latest news and frame scores from the Crucible

By Sporting Life

Snooker

Sat April 30, 2022 · 3y ago

Ronnie O’Sullivan reached his eighth world final, cruising past John Higgins at the Crucible two set up a mouth-watering final with Judd Trump.

Higgins v O'Sullivan frame scores

John Higgins 9-15 Ronnie O'Sullivan

76-53, 69-46 (50), 87-32 (58), 7-70 (70), 1-99 (54),
10-116 (116), 66-55 (55), 0-127 (107), 1-122 (73), 64-34,
79-0 (53), 0-99 (99), 0-91 (91), 43-73 (55), 6-70 (70),
58-65 (53), 66-30, 32-104 (82), 84-37 (51), 0-101 (101),
103-0 (103), 16-121 (121), 26-105 (54), 0-134 (134),
69-5 (69), 31-83 (83), 40-81

*O'Sullivan won frame 16 on a re-spotted black

Session four

O’Sullivan completed a 17-11 win over John Higgins to become, at 46, the oldest player to reach a Crucible final since Ray Reardon in 1982.

The Rocket had effectively ended his semi-final as a contest after winning five of the eight frames in the morning session against Higgins to move two from victory at 15-9.

But despite firing three centuries, O’Sullivan had been clinical rather than vintage as he mopped up after a succession of Higgins mistakes, the Scot showing his frustration by slamming his cue into the floor when he let his opponent in early in the 22nd frame.

O’Sullivan did his best to prolong the inevitable, gifting Higgins two of the first three frames upon their resumption before a break of 83 belatedly got him over the line.

Session three

Ronnie O’Sullivan closed in on his eighth world final after winning five of the eight frames in the penultimate session of his last-four clash against John Higgins at the Crucible.

Resuming 10-6 in front after clinching a thrilling last frame on Friday night on a re-spotted black, the 46-year-old secured a 15-9 advantage to leave him requiring just two more frames on Saturday evening to progress.

Despite firing three centuries, O’Sullivan was clinical rather than vintage as he mopped up after a succession of Higgins mistakes, the Scot showing his frustration by slamming his cue into the floor when he let his opponent in early in the 22nd frame.

Higgins had appeared set to show no ill effects from the Friday night drama as he took the essential opening frame of the morning, but a break of 82 by O’Sullivan swiftly re-established his four-frame advantage at 11-8.

The Scot clawed back again before the pair swapped tons, O’Sullivan compiling a 101 and Higgins responding on the other side of the mid-session interval with a 103 to haul back to 12-9.

Higgins fluffed a simple red to the middle in the next frame, ending a promising break of 16 and letting in O’Sullivan to fire a devastating 121 – the 100th century of this year’s tournament – to emphatically assert command.

It was O’Sullivan’s turn to run aground on 50 in the next, but once again Higgins failed to fully capitalise, a poor positional shot leading to a spell of safety play from which O’Sullivan emerged with a comfortable clearance to move five in front at 14-9.

Higgins’ dismal session was summed up in the final frame when O’Sullivan pounced on a loose break-off shot to sink a long red and proceed to roll in his 12th century of the tournament – a faultless 134 – and surely make the concluding evening session a formality.

Session two

Ronnie O’Sullivan took command of his World Championship semi-final with John Higgins, building a four-frame advantage with a ruthless display at the Crucible.

O’Sullivan put together breaks of 99, 91, 70 and 73 to open up a 10-6 lead, but in winning the final frame of the second session on a re-spotted black, he inflicted a cruel body blow on Higgins who might well struggle to recover.

Higgins seemed sure to reduce his arrears to 9-7, only to abort plans to take the pink and then miss the black off its spot – a pot which would have left O’Sullivan needing a snooker.

O'Sullivan – who is chasing a seventh world title in Sheffield – then produced a stunning positional shot on the penultimate red to gain position on the black, screwing the red into the green pocket and swinging the cue ball off two cushions to leave himself a thin cut into the bottom pocket, one which he completed with typical panache.

The 46-year-old went on to clear the table and force a re-spotted black, first attempting a double into the middle pocket before Higgins went desperately close to potting into the green pocket from distance.

To Higgins' dismay, the black ran down the baize and settled in the middle of the table to offer O'Sullivan a pot to the centre pocket which he floated in with ease.

If ever there was a pivotal moment in the match, this felt like it.

Higgins had earlier taken two of the first three frames of the day to inch 6-5 in front, but O’Sullivan kicked off a winning run of five frames in a row with a break of 99, and he steadily began to assert his dominance over his long-time rival, whose own confidence appeared to wane as the afternoon went on.

After suffering such a cruel blow at the end of the session, the Scot has it all to do if he's turn his fortunes around and reach a ninth Crucible final.

Session One

Ronnie O'Sullivan fought back to end the session 4-4 and leave his World Championship semi-final with John Higgins perfectly poised.

It had threatened to be a costly session for the world number one, who was visibly frustrated over his cue-ball control on a heavy table as Higgins moved into a 3-0 lead despite managing nothing more than a run of 58.

O'Sullivan though clicked into gear to get on the board with a break of 70 ahead of the mid-session interval and could've won the final five frames of the night, a poor positional shot in frame seven forcing him to settle for four and parity heading into Friday.

He was undoubtedly the heavier scorer and rolled home two centuries across the final three frames, Higgins perhaps in the end relieved to get out level against an opponent whose pot success rate of 95 percent suggests he was close to his best despite struggling at times with conditions.