Ronnie O'Sullivan turns on the style against John Higgins as he edges closer to World Championship final

ByEurosport

Updated 30/04/2022 at 13:35 GMT

Ronnie O'Sullivan played some sublime snooker in Saturday morning's session, winning five frames to John Higgins' three to lead 15-9, and the world No. 1 now just needs two more frames for a place in the final. Stream the 2022 World Championship and more top snooker action live and on-demand on discovery+

Watch shock moment Higgins whacks snooker cue on ground in anger

A fired-up Ronnie O'Sullivan turned on the style as he raced into a 15-9 lead over John Higgins to edge closer to the World Championship final.

O'Sullivan played some sublime snooker in Saturday morning's session, winning five frames to Higgins' three and now just needs two more frames for a spot in the final.

Trailing 6-10 at the start of the session, Higgins took the first frame to reduce the deficit and move to within three of his opponent.

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The 18th frame looked to be going the way of the Scot as well as he took a 32-0 lead but O'Sullivan fought back, producing a quite magical break of 83 - the best of the tournament so far - to restore his four-frame advantage.

Higgins made a fine response, however, to recover the 19th frame, clawing one back again to trail 11-8 after a superb safety shot.

Predictably, a game between two legends of the game ebbed and flowed as O'Sullivan made a break of 101 to move 12-8 in front, but Higgins made a century of his own in the next frame to keep on the coattail of the world No 1.

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O'Sullivan saved his best for the final three frames of the session, making the 100th century of this year's World Championship to lead 13-9.

Higgins allowed his frustration to boil over following a string of misses as he whacked his cue against the Crucible carpet, while O'Sullivan showed a rare moment of anxiety, twice failing to hit the white and received a warning from the referee.

However, O'Sullivan quickly regained his composure, fearlessly potting a red seconds later to make it 14-9, before making another sensational break - this time of 134 - to take complete control of the match.

The pair will have a few hours to rest before they play to a conclusion on Saturday evening with a place in the final against either Judd Trump or Mark Williams at stake.