John Higgins fights back to stun Ronnie O’Sullivan and book place in English Open final in Milton Keynes
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Updated 06/11/2021 at 19:10 GMT
John Higgins' hopes of winning the English Open for the first time are alive after he fought back to beat his great rival Ronnie O'Sullivan in the semi-finals. O'Sullivan, the winner of the event in 2017, looked in good shape to advance to the final when taking a 5-3 lead, but the Scot fought back to secure victory at the Marshall Arena.
'He's fallen over the line!' - Incredible drama as Higgins beats O'Sullivan in decider
John Higgins fought back from 5-3 down to beat Ronnie O’Sullivan in dramatic fashion and book his place in the final of the English Open.
O’Sullivan shook off a slow start to take command of the contest, but he appeared unsettled after the players were briefly taken out of the arena due to an issue with an electrical unit setting off an alarm.
Despite being unsettled, O'Sullivan took the eighth frame to move within one of victory, but he was unable to shake off his great rival and Higgins steeled himself to pull off a stunning comeback and book his place in his 53rd ranking final.
With two great rivals, it was understandably a cagey opening - with a safety battle kicking off the opening frame.
An excellent safety from Higgins drew an error from O’Sullivan, but the Scot failed to convert and the Rocket carried on the work from his impressive effort in the quarter-finals the previous day as a break of 75 secured the opener.
O’Sullivan got in again in the second, but surprisingly missed a red to the left corner. He appeared to put his focus on the cannon, and was made to pay the price as Higgins rolled in the 854th ton of his career to take the second and join battle.
For the second frame in a row, OSullivan missed a red to let in his opponent. Higgins ran out of position, but an excellent safety drew a mistake and he cashed in at the second time of asking to edge ahead.
After losing two frames on the spin and repeatedly working on his tip, O’Sullivan steadied the ship - earning an opening with an excellent safety and knocking in a break of 50 to level the match at the interval.
Higgins got an excellent split of the pack from the blue at the start of the fifth frame, but was stopped in his tracks as a red dribbled into the left corner. O’Sullivan emerged from his seat to knock in a break of 69 - which included a wonderful plant - to move ahead.
A long red described as “absolutely brilliant” by Joe Johnson on Eurosport commentary earned O'Sullivan what could best be described as half a chance. He picked off the reds like a magician in a break of 108 - his eighth century of the week - to move 4-2 ahead.
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'Absolutely brilliant' - O'Sullivan nails fantastic long red
A misbehaving electrical appliance briefly took the players out of the arena in the seventh frame. O’Sullivan appeared unsettled before and after the incident, and missed a simple red followed by a poor safety. Higgins took full advantage to cut the gap to one.
O’Sullivan could easily have fallen apart after being unsettled, but he regrouped and knocked in his second century of the contest to move within one frame of victory.
Higgins never looked completely happy, and did have a late-night win over Yan Bingtao to bounce back from. His race looked run when he left a black in the jaws of the right corner, but O’Sullivan missed a black of his own to hand the Scot a lifeline in the ninth frame. Higgins knocked in a stunning double to get going, and a break of 63 kept his hopes alive.
O’Sullivan had a chance to close out the match in the 10th after Higgins had missed a brown, but he ran out of position on the final red, and the Scot cleared to the pink to force a decider - the 13th time their matches had gone to the wire.
A glorious long red into the bottom left earned O’Sullivan a shot at victory in the decider, but he missed a black off its spot with his break on 20.
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'Sublime' - O'Sullivan wins the sixth Frame of Higgins semi-final with a century
With tension filling the Marshall Arena, chances came and went for both players.
After being on the wrong end of some luck earlier in the match, Higgins had it all in his favour in the decider.
Higgins had victory in his grasp only to miss a green, but it went safe. He later found himself in a snooker, and went for the hit-and-hope escape.
He hit, he hoped and it worked out as he somehow put O’Sullivan in a snooker of his own, and two balls later he was celebrating victory after knocking in green and brown for a stunning win.
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