Mark Williams beats John Higgins in tense decider to reach Crucible semi-finals
Higgins fought back from 12-8 behind before going down 13-12.
Mark Williams held off a superb fightback from fellow former winner John Higgins to triumph in a last-frame decider and reach his eighth World Championship semi-final at the Crucible.
The veteran duo, who have won seven world titles between them, were locked at 8-8 at the end of their second session before Williams put himself on the brink by taking all four frames on Wednesday’s resumption.
Four-time champion Higgins, though, dug in following the mid-session interval with breaks of 94, 114 and 67 to force a decider, which Williams took after his opponent missed a tense blue on the top cushion to seal a 13-12 victory.
Williams, who had trailed 5-1 earlier in the match, made the most of some unforced errors from Higgins, 49, to edge in front and then extend his lead to 10-8.
A couple of half-century breaks from the Welshman, who claimed the last of his three world titles in 2018, saw him seemingly close in on victory at 12-8 heading into the interval.
However, having regrouped, Higgins clawed a frame back before firing in 94 to move within two.
Williams, 50, then gave away a careless foul after touching the blue with his trailing arm when he was leaning over to pot a long red with the rest.
Higgins made the most of the opportunity, digging in again to build a fine 114 break.
The Scot missed a frame-ball red along the bottom cushion after a break of 67 in the next but was still able to force a final-frame shootout.
With both men running out of position when looking set, the deciding frame turned into a safety battle before Higgins caught the bump on the middle pocket, which allowed Williams in to edge in front 56-52.
Higgins sunk a red with the rest after Williams missed a tricky long red, then rolled the brown in on the top cushion only to miss the blue.
Williams clipped it in before finishing off the pink and black to seal a dramatic 74-69 victory.
“There was not one bit of nerves,” Williams insisted to the BBC afterwards. “I don’t really get it. I’ve only had nerves a handful of times in my career.
“I wasn’t thinking he (Higgins) would miss it. From 12-8 to 12-all I had not done much wrong and I was thinking, ‘what can I do?’
“It’s just a pleasure playing now. We got the standing ovation walking in and everyone was cheering. You have to enjoy it because you don’t know how many times you’ll be coming back here.”
Ronnie O’Sullivan held off a fightback from Si Jiahui to lead 10-6 heading into Wednesday night’s final session.
O’Sullivan extended his overnight advantage to 7-2 when he took the opening frame of the morning, capitalising after Si had missed a straightforward pink off the spot.
Si, a semi-finalist on his Crucible debut two years ago, then crafted a break of 101 before a fluked cannon red into the bottom corner helped set O’Sullivan on his way to a run of 75 to take the 11th frame in one visit.
Si reduced the deficit again heading into the mid-session interval, but O’Sullivan pinched the first frame back after his opponent missed a frame-ball red, getting a couple of snookers before clearing the colours.
Si rattled off consecutive half-centuries to get back to 9-6, but O’Sullivan capitalised on another unforced error from Si when missing the brown to come from behind and take the final frame of the session with a 64 break.
Zhao Xintong duly picked up the one frame he required to turn a 12-4 overnight advantage over Chris Wakelin into a 13-5 victory that sealed his place in the semi-finals for the first time.
