Higgins stretches lead in Crucible semi-final

JOHN Higgins put himself on course to beat Mark Allen with a session to spare in their Betfred.com World Championship semi-final.

The Scot stretched his lead from 6-2 to 13-3 by winning seven of the eight frames in today's opening session.

After final-frame deciders against Jamie Cope and Mark Selby in the previous two rounds, two-time former champion Higgins was having it far easier against Northern Irishman Allen, who put up little resistance.

Higgins' terrific performance put him four frames away from a place in the final, and meant there was a strong chance the match would finish this evening, negating the need for tomorrow's scheduled afternoon session.

Allen, 23, knocked out Ronnie O'Sullivan and Ryan Day to reach his first Crucible semi-final, but he could not find any rhythm this morning and his all-round play was erratic.

He belatedly found some form in the 14th frame, when he made a rapid crowd-pleasing break of 103, but that only cut Higgins' lead to 11-3.

Higgins, 33, won all four frames before the mid-session interval, making two centuries in the process.

It looked one match too many for Allen, as Higgins took the opening two frames with breaks of 127 and 66.

Producing some of the finest snooker of the past fortnight, he added a flawless break of 104 to go to the interval in complete control.

Higgins made runs of 43 and 70 to take frame 13, extending his advantage to 11-2.

That meant he had taken eight frames in a row stretching back to yesterday's opening session.

Allen grabbed his frame before Higgins pulled away again at the end of the session.