John Higgins, Matthew Stevens storm into quarter-finals of 2011 Shanghai Masters tournament
The reigning world champion John Higgins and the current world number 14 Matthew Stevens reached the quarter-finals of the 2011 Bank of Communication Shanghai Masters tournament on Thursday.
Higgins and Stevens defeated Stuart Bingham and Martin Gould by a frame score of 5-2 and 5-1 in best-of-nine frame matches respectively.
It was not one of the best performances from the four-time Crucible winner and the current world number 2, John Higgins, as there were no impressive breaks made during the match. Stuart Bingham, who recently won the Australian Open, could also not perform well.
Bingham pocketed the first frame with a clearance of 35 points before Higgins levelled the score-line in the second. A bout of safety play was seen afterwards among the players but in the end, it was Higgins who appeared on top to secure a win. The only highlighted break of the match was 69 which Higgins made in the last frame.
“Stuart has been in good form so I was lucky that he wasn't at his best today,” said Higgins.
“I think in the first few weeks of the season a lot of the top players were rusty, myself included. But now we're starting to find some form so it's no surprise that the bigger names are getting through here,” added the Scot.
The other player who cruised into the Last 8 on the same day was the Welsh Dragon, Matthew Stevens, as he registered a comfortable 5-1 win over Martin Gould.
It was yet another old-fashioned match with only one highlighted break of 64 from Stevens. However, Matthew was happy with the win.
He said, “It wasn't the best match but if you win 5-1 then you must be doing something right. I've won two very important games here which has given me a chance of staying in the top 16. I feel as if I'm getting to where I want to be.”
John Higgins will now play Neil Robertson whereas Matthew Stevens will be up against his fellow countrymen and the current world number one player of the world, Mark Williams.
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