JOHN Higgins swept into a 6-2 lead over struggling Mark Allen as the pair began their battle for a place in this weekend's final of the Betfred.com World Snooker Championship.
The 33-year-old from Wishaw dominated the first of the four sessions, making a break of 114 in the sixth frame on his way to gaining a comfortable overnight lead. Higgins won the final three frames of the session yesterday as shock semi-finalist Alle
n struggled with almost every aspect of his game.
The only real consolation for the 23-year-old Northern Irish cueman, who knocked out pre-tournament favourite Ronnie O'Sullivan in the second round, is that there are three sessions of the first-to-17-frames match remaining and that he therefore has time to recover. Higgins is bidding for his third Crucible title and before yesterday's match his experience was predicted to be a telling factor, with compatriot Stephen Hendry tipping him to become champion again.
He had a late-night finish on Thursday when he fought from 12-11 down to defeat Mark Selby 13-12, a win he described as the greatest of his career.
When he lost an untidy opening frame yesterday it seemed that the exertion might have been affecting him. However steady breaks of 40, 55 and 49 saw the Wishaw man begin to dominate, even though the play remained largely scrappy.
Neither semi-finalist was particularly fluent before the mid-session interval, and it is believed concerns were raised over the state of the baize during the break.
Both had suffered terrible kicks, and the table, which was re-clothed overnight, was playing slowly. It was ironed during the interval, and there was a notable change when the players returned.
Allen, bidding to become the first Northern Irish player to reach the final since Dennis Taylor's 1985 triumph, closed the gap to 3-2 with a break of 41. But then Higgins' century break brought the match to life and he also edged a tight seventh frame, before a session-closing 75 left Allen trailing by four.
Allen paid tribute to coach Terry Griffiths, the 1979 world champion, for guiding him into the semi-finals. The man from Antrim came to Sheffield with his place in the world's top 16 in doubt, but he now has an opportunity to gatecrash the top eight and lift the sport's biggest prize.
Allen said: "Terry has got the experience of playing in all the big tournaments and dealing with the pressure.
"He doesn't really deal with any technical issues ... (but] he knows what to say and when to say it to help me to relax."
The other semi-final between Shaun Murphy and Neil Robertson is poised at 4-4 after the opening session.
Murphy won a pedestrian opening frame, before an audience member was thrown out for heckling him, and he made it 2-0 after a break of 46.
Robertson's 81 to win the third frame suggested stage fright was not an issue for the Australian, in his first Crucible semi-final. He drew level at 2-2 but Murphy restored his lead soon after the resumption.
The players returned to their dressing rooms after the fifth frame as officials attempted to detect the source of a buzzing noise. With that quickly resolved, Murphy knocked in a break of 88 to regain his earlier two-frame advantage.
But Robertson responded with 81 in the next and a run of 46 made sure he took the final frame of the evening.
The full article contains 601 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
