Masters 2022 – John Higgins books 'special' Mark Williams quarter-final showdown after beating Zhao Xintong
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Updated 10/01/2022 at 18:46 GMT
John Higgins is looking to end his 15-year wait for a third Masters title. Last year’s losing finalist started in style at the Alexandra Palace with an impressive 6-2 victory over Zhao Xintong. The Scot faces fellow two-time winner and Class of ‘92 player Mark Williams in the quarter-final, which takes place on Thursday evening.
‘A rare mistake!’ - Referee Verhaas puts green back on wrong spot in Higgins’ Masters match
John Higgins began his pursuit for a third Masters title with a convincing 6-2 victory over Zhao Xintong on Monday.
Champion in 1999 and 2006, and also the losing finalist last year, Higgins was too strong for Zhao, who won the UK Championship last month to qualify for the top-16 event.
Up next for Higgins is a quarter-final meeting with Mark Williams, who beat defending champion Yan Bingtao 6-4 on Sunday.
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‘I can fit in the chair!’ - Higgins jokes about weight loss after beating ‘superstar’ Zhao
Higgins said afterwards: "Delighted to beat Zhao, he’s a superstar of the game. He didn’t play well today, he missed a few, but I’m just glad to be back and glad I can fit in that chair! A couple of years I couldn’t fit in that, so I’m delighted I can now."
On facing Williams next, Higgins added: "It’s special. To play them [Ronnie O’Sullivan or Williams] in an arena like this, the crowd are amazing. I heard them saying it’s the best atmosphere, this is the best I’ve played in. Roll on Thursday night and hopefully we can put on a good show!"
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Zhao sinks 128 century to level match against Higgins
A high-quality affair began with Higgins recording a 100 break in the opening frame, and Zhao then responded with a 128 to level it up.
Higgins took the match away from Zhao with a run of three straight frames, including a break of 104, to go 4-1 up.
Both players had chances in the sixth frame, but Zhao remained in contention when reducing the gap to two after a couple of Higgins errors.
Higgins edged closer to victory when winning the seventh frame, recovering from a positional error after referee Jan Verhaas mistakenly placed the green back on the yellow spot to laughs from the Alexandra Palace crowd.
He then needed a couple of visits to the table in the eighth frame, but capitalised on some nervy Zhao shots to seal the match.
Shaun Murphy takes on Barry Hawkins in Monday’s evening session.
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