O’Sullivan And Higgins Face Quarters Clash

Ronnie O’Sullivan and John Higgins will go head to head in the last eight of the Coral Scottish Open on Friday.

The two all-time greats met in the recent Champion of Champions final, Higgins winning 10-7, and O’Sullivan will get the chance for revenge in Glasgow at 12pm on Friday (tickets still on sale, click here for details).

O’Sullivan scored a 4-2 win over Mark Allen in the last 16 in a high quality contest which featured breaks of 104, 103, 85 and 51 from the Rocket, while Allen also played his part with runs of 74 and 80 in frames three and five.

Earlier in the day, O’Sullivan had beaten fellow crowd favourite Jimmy White 4-2 in the last 32 with a top break of 114.

“I had a new tip on my cue tonight and it was a lot better,” said O’Sullivan, chasing his first title in ten months. “It can take three or four days to adjust to a new tip so it’s unfortunate to have to do that during a tournament but you just have to get on with it. I’m very pleased to win tonight and I scored well. I made a few mistakes from 3-1 up but Mark let me off.

“John will have the crowd supporting him tomorrow and he has done fantastic things for snooker in Scotland.”

Wishaw’s Higgins, chasing his third title in the past five weeks, saw off Dominic Dale 4-0 with a top run of 74. “I’ll really enjoy playing Ronnie,” said the Scot. “It will be a big occasion. I struggled a bit tonight but hopefully it will be better tomorrow.”

Judd Trump booked his spot in the last eight by beating Kyren Wilson 4-2. Wilson had chances but crucially missed a pink to a centre pocket when he could have made it 2-2, and later a black to a top corner in the last frame when he looked set to go 3-3.

Bristol’s Trump, targeting his second ranking title of the season having won the European Masters, said: “Kyren just missed some crucial balls at the wrong time. I felt terrible all night, I just missed fewer balls than him. No one wants to lose in the last 16 because once you get down to the quarter-finals it’s one or two tables with a big crowd and it feels like the tournament is really getting going. A lot of the big names are still here so it’s a good tournament to still be involved in.”

Trump now meets Robert Milkins who beat Anthony Hamilton 4-3 with a top run of 72.

Coral English Open champion Liang Wenbo edged out Barry Hawkins 4-3, winning a tight deciding frame by clearing from the last red after a safety error from Hawkins. Liang now faces a Chinese derby against Yu Delu, who beat Sean O’Sullivan 4-3.

Hong Kong’s Marco Fu edged out Neil Robertson 4-3 with a top break of 141. He will now play Sussex cueman Mark Davis, who beat Mark Williams 4-3 with a vital 28 clearance in the decider, having earlier top scored with 109.

Friday’s quarter-final line up:

12pm

Ronnie O’Sullivan v John Higgins

followed by

Judd Trump v Robert Milkins

7pm

Yu Delu v Liang Wenbo

and

Marco Fu v Mark Davis