John Higgins became the oldest semi-finalist in the Snooker World Championship since 1985 by defeating Neil Robertson in the quarter-finals.
And so there were 4. The
World Snooker Championship 2026 has been roaring forward for just shy of two weeks, but now the show starts to get real with just a quartet of the best left to enjoy on one table.
The second table has been taken away from the Crucible, with the established duo of
John Higgins and
Neil Robertson rounding out affairs in the two-table setup. Higgins had already shown he's at his best defeating
Ronnie O'Sullivan 13-12, but Robertson was spurred on by searching for his first semi-final visit at the Crucible in 12 years.
The Aussie had the advantage 9-7 coming into the final session, but Higgins showed in the 2nd round he isn't phased by any sort of lead by his opponent. Things went equal to 9-9 in the blink of an eye.
Next Robertson got off the mark, with the next frame being perhaps the most crucial one. Higgins missed a tricky green, but Robertson rattled the cages in his response. The Scotsman duly obliged after his opponent's guilt-edged mistake to take the game 10-10.
"The Wizard of Whishaw" continued in fine form taking the 21st frame as well, before a 54-minute marathon frame that broke the camel's back where the 4-time world champion came out on top by just one point. The final frame went through for the Scot without too much trouble.
- I'm so proud to beat a great champion like Neil in this way, what a win for me. I can't wait to battle Shaun here tomorrow with just one table. Last year when I lost in the quarters I thought I might never experience it again, Higgins told WST.
- I think I've done a bit of a mental shift in the last two years, I'm not so harsh on myself anymore. I'm a completely different person coming to events. I hope to do well, but it's not the end of the world if I don't, the Scot added.
Robertson commented:
- There's a lot of positives I can take from this. I think a couple of years back I would have been 10-6 down after two sessions. I'm pleased with how many times I had to battle for a frame and came out on top. John's a great player, he has an amazing attitude to stay in games.
The semi-final pairings are John Higgins vs Shaun Murphy (semi-final 1) and
Wu Yize vs
Mark Allen (semi-final 2). The semi-finals of the Snooker World Championship start tomorrow at 13:00 (semi-final 1) and 19:00 (semi-final 2) BST.
Matches are played out as best of 33 affairs, meaning that you need 17 frames to reach the final. If Higgins succeeds in doing so, he'll be the oldest finalist at the Crucible ever - he's already the oldest semi-finalist since Ray Reardon in 1985!
You can enjoy the conclusion to the 54-minute marathon frame from the video below.
Source:
WST 
