John Higgins beats Stephen Lee, 10-5 – 2011 Betfred.com World Snooker Championship
John Higgins has beaten Stephen Lee by a frame score of 10-5 in the first round of the 2011 Betfred.com World Snooker Championship, which is being staged at the Crucible Theatre, Sheffield,
England.
Stephen Lee, who previously beat six-time world champion, Steve Davis, in the final qualifying round, crashed out in the first round. However the current world number one, John Higgins,
on the same note produced high standards of game to register an impressive 10-5 win over his opponent.
It was a spectacular game which included five century breaks. The overall score-line between both players was 34-73, 83-14 (56), 76-31 (70), 78-0, 133-0 (132) 105-15 (101), 1-84, 46-78,
135-0 (131), 124-0 (124), 61-47, 0-101 (101), 0-86, 74-0 and 81-0 (81).
The thirty-five-year-old Scottish professional, Higgins, showcased dominant breaks of 132, 101 and 131 to end his opening session with a 6-3 lead and in the final session he again started
off with a classy century break of 124 in the first frame. He also took the following eleventh to extend his lead by 8-3 before the world number eighteen, Lee, bounced back into the game, with all of his zeal energy and strength, and won two frames in a row.
Meanwhile, Lee also racked up his only century break of the match, 101, to reduce the deficit by 8-5.
Though it looked as if the Englishman believed he could pull the victory by making one of the greatest comebacks at the Crucible Theatre, he lost the next two straight. The tournament
favourite player, Higgins, ended Lee's hope with decisive breaks of 74 and 81 in both the frames respectively.
"You have to play well in all parts against John but I only played well in patches," admitted Lee.
Stephen Lee also told the media, "There are only a couple of players that keep you sat down and I've played one of them. John's safety is always good and I was looking at the table thinking
'what do I do next' and there aren't that many players that do that to me. He is a class act and you have to play at the top of your game to give him a match."
John Higgins has now set up a match against Rory McLeod in the last-16.
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