John Parrott: Higgins closes to 9-7 after Crucible fightback

john parrott sits on the page, but the score is the story: John Higgins ended Sunday night trailing Ronnie O’Sullivan 9-7 after winning the last three frames at the Crucible. O’Sullivan had twice led by five frames before Higgins dragged the second-round match back within reach.

Higgins trims O’Sullivan’s edge

Higgins clawed out frame 14 even after fluffing an attempted escape from a snooker, then reeled in a 55-point deficit in the next frame. He finished the session with the last three frames, leaving the Scot still behind but no longer buried.

The match had threatened to break open when O’Sullivan moved five frames clear more than once. Instead, Higgins kept finding a reply, and the night ended with both players going in-off at crucial moments in the last frame.

Zhao Xintong reaches quarter-finals

Zhao Xintong moved into the quarter-finals with a 13-9 win over Ding Junhui, building on a 9-7 overnight advantage and finishing with a break of 108 in the penultimate frame. He will play Shaun Murphy next.

Zhao said after the win: "Today I think there was more pressure". He added: "I know Ding didn’t play very well in the last session, but the pressure is very big." He also said: "This year I just don’t want to lose any match, so it feels very different."

Selby, Robertson and Trump

Wu Yize led Mark Selby 9-7 after Sunday night’s session, having levelled the match at 4-4 after the opening session. Selby had opened with successive centuries in the first two frames, and the contest was set to conclude on Monday afternoon.

Neil Robertson led Chris Wakelin 10-6, while Judd Trump was 9-7 ahead of qualifier Hossein Vafaei. The night left Higgins still chasing O’Sullivan, but closer than he had been when the session began.