World Snooker Championship 2021 - John Higgins trails Tian Pengfei after dour opening session
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Updated 18/04/2021 at 17:27 GMT
The four-time world champion was off colour for much of the opening session with Tian Pengfei. David Gilbert advanced to the second round courtesy of a victory over Chris Wakelin. The damage was done in the first session, when he opened up a 7-2 advantage, and he carried the momentum forward to secure the win.
John Higgins watches Tian Pengfei play a shot, World Snooker Championship, Crucible Theatre, April 18, 2021 in Sheffield, England
Image credit: Getty Images
John Higgins has his back against the wall after falling 4-3 behind to Tian Pengfei at the World Championship.
The Scot came into the event with some excellent form to his name, but he was below par for much of the contest.
He threatened to be cast adrift, but dug into his reserves to win a couple of frames towards the end of the afternoon - but will need to up his game in the second session if he is to keep his dreams of a fifth Crucible title alive.
The slow nature of play saw the session end two frames early, which arguably favours Higgins as he has an opportunity to regroup and find some fluency.
The opening frame was extremely scrappy, lasting in excess of 36 minutes, but Higgins pulled out two excellent pots on the colours to edge ahead.
The second frame followed a similar path to the first, but it was Tian who took it after withstanding a Higgins challenge when snookers were required.
Tian found fluency in the third with an excellent break of 111 to move ahead and the Chinese took the final frame before the break to open up a two-frame cushion.
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Higgins left the arena with a sombre look on his face, which was understandable given the way he had played in the opening four frames.
Things did not improve for the four-time world champion after the interval. Higgins had a chance in the fifth frame after his opponent let him in when missing an ambitious red, but he failed to knock a blue into the left centre and Tian stepped in to open a three-frame buffer.
Higgins stopped the rot by taking the sixth with a break of 71, which came shortly after the partition went up after play had finished on the other table.
The Scot dug in to take an arduous, 45-minute seventh frame - which summed up the match - to move within one of his opponent at 4-3 in the race to 10.
David Gilbert set up a second-round clash with either Judd Trump or Liam Highfield after completing a 10-4 win over Chris Wakelin.
Gilbert, a semi-finalist two years ago, did the damage in the first session, opening up a 7-2 lead, and he kept his opponent at bay to complete a comfortable success.
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