John Higgins secures place in the semi-final of the Welsh Open 2011 – Snooker news
The world number one player John Higgins has beaten the local hero Matthew Stevens in the best-of-eleven quarter-final of the Welsh Open 2011 and has gone through to the semi-final.
Higgins after his withdrawal from the German Masters, due to his father’s death, had a tearful win in the round 1 but he has gathered his form back and is on the roll again.
Higgins also is defending the title as he won it last year playing against Ali Carter.
In the first frame, Higgins got a chance first, but he slipped quickly giving it to his opponent. Stevens on the other hand got off to a superb start and made a magnificent break of 77 to take the opening frame 1-0. Higgins roared back in the next
frame with a couple of quick fires 43 and 37 and levelled the things 1-1.
Third frame was scrappy as both players relied on safety shots and were seen making mistakes. They got enough chances but neither of the two could produce quality stuff. Higgins was leading the Welshman by 31-13 when he was again given with a great
chance from Stevens, but they were again found locked at 59-13 and then 59-37 until a stunning long pot from Stevens came up. Just when it was thought that Stevens is going to have the frame after doing all the hard work, a critical pink was missed which gifted
the frame to Higgins 2-1.
Things were going slow as of yet before Higgins in the fourth frame showed his break building skills and made a superb break of 132 to go into the interval 3-1 ahead.
Stevens after the interval also bounced back in the fifth frame making a classy break of 93 and also took the following frame as well with a dominant 58 equalizing the scores 3-3.
In the seventh frame Higgins started off with a excellent long pot but needed some good shots to turn the chance into a frame winning, he broke at 44 giving his opponent a beautiful snooker which again brought him back on the table to add another 20
to his score at 64-3.
Stevens was left needing snooker and Higgins went ahead by 4-3. Following frame was also won by the world number one but some nervy stuff was seen by from both sides. Stevens was leading 49-30 before a red jawed out at the end. Higgins was left with
a simple pot and he rolled in final 39 to clinch the victory by 5-3.
The overall score line between the players was 21-77, 80-0, 79-38, 132-0, 32-93, 29-67, and 64-26.
John Higgins will now face Ali Carter in the semi-final on February 19, 2011 which looks to be a promising match between the two.
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