Snooker:John Higgins survived a major Crucible scare to reach the Betfred.com World Championship final and end Mark Allen's magnificent run. The Scotsman had been 13-3 ahead at one stage yesterday, needing just four more frames for victory, but the Antrim potter got back to 15-12.
.The left-hander could not complete the recovery though, with Higgins going through a 17-13 winner to face either Shaun Murphy or Neil Robertson.
Allen, 23, who defeated Ronnie O’Sullivan in the second round and Ryan Day in the quarter-finals, had been bidding to become Northern Ireland’s first world champion since Dennis Taylor’s famous victory over Steve Davis in 1985.
But the damage which Higgins inflicted in the first two sessions of their match was ultimately ruinous to the 23-year-old’s hopes.
His fightback was stirring and had the crowd wondering whether he could pull off the most improbable of victories, greater even than Ken Doherty’s recovery to win from 15-9 down to Paul Hunter in the 2003 semi-finals.
But 33-year-old Higgins eventually stumbled over the finishing line, taking advantage of a slip by Allen in the 30th frame.
Allen had resumed trailing by 15-9, after winning six of eight frames last night. He continued to atone for his dreadful start to the match by making a defiant break of 106 to close the gap to five frames.
He soon slashed that advantage to just three. Allen potted three reds and blacks at the start of the frame before the mid-session interval but then made the mistake which would cost him, not only missing the red but leaving Higgins with balls to go at.
The two-time former champion showed impressive resolve, having lost nine of the previous 11 frames, to make a break of 116 and leave Allen needing to win five frames in a row.
He snared the first of those with a break of 47, but it was soon all over. Higgins made a break of 60 before missing to hand his young opponent a chance to recover to 16-14.
However Allen cued a straightforward blue against the jaws of the centre pocket after reaching 44, and two-time champion Higgins did not give him another chance.
Earlier, Robertson recovered from a dismal start to reduce Murphy’s lead to 14-10 after the third session of their semi-final.
Australian Robertson had slumped from 9-7 to 14-7 behind, but he reeled off the final three frames of the day’s opening session with breaks of 66, 68 and 101 to give himself fresh hope for this evening, when play was due to resume.