Selby Fights Back To Square Higgins Tie

Mark Selby came from 4-1 down against John Higgins to level at 4-4 in the first session of their Cazoo World Championship quarter-final clash.

On the other table, Anthony McGill recovered a 4-1 deficit against Si Jiahui to restore parity at 4-4.

Selby and Higgins have plenty of history at the Crucible and have met twice in the final; in 2007 when Higgins came out on top 18-13, and 2017 when Selby triumphed 18-15. This time the target is 13 frames for a place in the semi-finals.

Higgins, who scored a resounding 13-2 success against Kyren Wilson in the previous round, is competing at the Crucible for the 29th consecutive year and this is his 17th quarter-final. Selby has reached this stage ten times since 2007. Both players have lifted the famous trophy four times.

There was a rare occurrence in today’s opening frame as both players made a break of 67, so it was settled on a respotted black. After a long safety battle, Higgins converted a long pot on the black to go ahead. The Scot dominated frame two and got the better of an exchange on the last red in the third to go 3-0 ahead.

The standard moved up a gear in frame four as Selby fired a run of 70 to gain a foothold, and the heavy scoring continued after the interval as Higgins made 79 to go 4-1 ahead, but he failed to register a point in the last three frames of the session as Leicester’s Selby scored 271 unanswered, compiling breaks of 70, 82 and 103.

They return to the fray on Wednesday at 2.30pm for eight more frames, with the balance to be played from 7pm.

China’s Si has enjoyed a tremendous Crucible debut, knocking out Shaun Murphy and Robert Milkins, and the 20-year-old is the youngest quarter-finalist for 25 years. McGill has reached the last eight for the third time since 2020.

From 1-0 down, Si made breaks of 106 and 58 to go 2-1 ahead, then took a scrappy 38-minute fourth frame on the colours, before compiling a run of 65 in the fifth to go 4-1 up. But Glasgow’s McGill grew stronger as the session progressed, taking three in a row with a top break of 54.

Their second session is on Wednesday from 10am, with the concluding chapter from 7pm.