John Higgins recovered from two heavy mid-match deficits to beat Ronnie O'Sullivan 13-12 in a pulsating World Championship tie at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield on Monday, denying O'Sullivan a shot at an outright modern-era record.
Higgins trailed 8-3 and 9-4 before mounting a comeback that culminated in a 49 break in the deciding frame to seal victory. O'Sullivan, who had been chasing an eighth world title, twice held five-frame leads in Sunday's second session and looked in command before the match flipped in the third.
The scale of the swing was stark. Higgins won the last three frames of Sunday to cut the deficit to 9-7, then took the first three frames on Monday as O'Sullivan slipped into a run of six successive lost frames — only the fifth time in his Crucible career that stretch has happened to him. O'Sullivan fought back to take the 20th and 21st frames and lead 11-10, and his 81 break forced a decider, but Higgins produced the decisive 49 to close it out 13-12.
Higgins said he was simply delighted to find form in the third session and admitted he did not understand how he had managed to be only 9-7 down after two sessions he would rather forget. He told his family at 6-2 down that he intended to win the remaining sessions and refused to entertain negative thoughts, he added, also paying tribute to O'Sullivan's cue-ball control and striking during the match.
The result matters today because it ends O'Sullivan's bid for an eighth title — a landmark that would have set a modern-era outright record — and because it leaves the draw open in a tournament where Higgins and O'Sullivan share 11 world titles between them. The loss also arrived amid broader discussion around Ronnie O Sullivan Chalk Complaints, a headline thread that has followed debate over equipment and fairness in recent coverage.
Tension in the match came from the mismatch between O'Sullivan's mid-match dominance and his failure to close. O'Sullivan said he has not played many big matches over the past two years and was surprised he managed to make a contest of this one; he added that missing important balls cost him frames and, ultimately, the match. That admission — from a seven-time champion who twice controlled large leads — underlined how small margins decided a match that swung through runs and counter-runs.
The shock felt through the Crucible continued elsewhere on Monday evening, where Judd Trump lost 13-12 to Iranian qualifier Hossein Vafaei in a last-16 match, underscoring how unpredictable this championship has become.
Higgins now progresses, his comeback both a tactical and mental triumph, while O'Sullivan leaves Sheffield without the record eighth crown he sought. The lasting image is of O'Sullivan, the participant who carried the tournament's biggest storyline into the Crucible, standing at the end of a match in which he twice led by five frames and yet saw an opportunity for history close by because of a handful of missed chances.
