Higgins recovers to beat O'Sullivan in Crucible epic

• Published27 April 2026, 16:14 BST
• 463 Comments

Four-time winner John Higgins produced a sensational recovery from 8-3 and 9-4 down to defeat Ronnie O'Sullivan 13-12 in a final-frame Crucible epic to reach the World Championship quarter-finals.

Seven-time champion O'Sullivan was seeking an eighth title to set a new outright record in the modern era, and twice held five-frame leads in Sunday's second session.

But Higgins won the last three frames on Sunday and maintained that form by taking the first three on Monday as O'Sullivan lost six successive frames at the Crucible for only the fifth time.

In a high-quality thriller, played out in front of an enthralled crowd, O'Sullivan won the 20th and 21st frames to regain the lead at 11-10.

In surely the match of the tournament, and one of the best in the 49 years at the Sheffield theatre, Higgins won two frames in a row to move one away at 12-11, but O'Sullivan's break of 81 forced a decider.

Higgins had the first chance but missed a red into the middle at 16-0 to give O'Sullivan a lifeline, before the Englishman could only score eight points and failed to pot a red.

The Scot then made a break of 49 on his way to sealing a match-winning frame, with both players getting a standing ovation as the tie finished.

The 50-year-olds are two of snooker's fabled 'Class of '92', along with 51-year-old Mark Williams, with the trio having 14 world titles between them.

Higgins, the champion in 1998, 2007, 2009 and 2011, will now play either 2010 winner Neil Robertson or world number 13 Chris Wakelin.

Robertson leads 10-6, with that match played to a finish in Monday's evening session from 19:00 BST.

Image source, PA Media

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Four-time winner Selby loses to Wu in last 16

While Higgins was beating O'Sullivan on table one, there was also drama on table two with four-time champion Mark Selby losing 13-11 against China's Wu Yize.

Wu, 22, is aiming to become the second Chinese player to win the world title after compatriot Zhao Xintong last year.

Ranked 10th, Wu claimed his first ranking tournament at the International Championship in November, with Selby tipping him as a future world champion.

Wu would become the youngest player to win a World Championship since a 21-year-old Stephen Hendry claimed the first of his seven titles in 1990.

In the quarter-finals, Wu will face either world number one Judd Trump or Iran's Hossein Vafaei and is in the opposite half of the draw to Zhao so a first all-China final is still possible.

"Wu is young, still loving the game and not too many battle scars - good luck to the boy, I really like him," said Selby.

"I think he is a World Champion in the making, it could be this year, but if not this year, I do think in his career he'll probably win it at some stage - he is that good.

"When he is on a run, he is hard to stop."

Selby, 42, started the match with century breaks of 123 and 124, but trailed 9-7 going into the final session, with Wu then stretching his advantage to 10-7.

The next two went to Selby, but Wu took both the 20th and 21st frames to move one from victory.

Selby again won two in a row, including a break of 95 in the 22nd frame, but could not complete the comeback as Wu took the 24th frame for victory.

Earlier on, in frame 21, Selby showed his frustration by hitting the cue against the table after missing a red.

"It was just a combination of everything, just missing silly balls and it's difficult when you don't know how the balls will come off the cushion," said Selby.

"I felt I was swimming against the tide and every single nudge went against me. I missed more than too many balls to win that match."

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