Snooker/ World Championship: John Higgins, the 1998 champion, was the more disappointed with the overnight 4-4 scoreline after the first of the three sessions of his World Championship quarter-final against Ronnie O'Sullivan after he had failed to capitalise on a lead of 3-1.

Fifteen months ago Higgins produced an outstanding 64 clearance to pip O'Sullivan 10-9 on the final black to win the Masters at Wembley, but only now, after a season in which he has only once been a semi-finalist, does he again appear a contender for a title.

There were breaks of 91 and 73 from Higgins and 89 from O'Sullivan as the Scot led 3-1. O'Sullivan almost invariably scored heavily among the balls, but his long potting, a cause of concern in beating the Australian challenger, Neil Robertson, 13-10, was again substandard.

Fortunately for him, Higgins' errors assisted him to runs of 54, 65 and 60 as he equalised at 3-3. O'Sullivan could only smile ruefully when, playing with side spin, his attempted long red let Higgins in for 110 but, in their last frame of the day, the twice world champion pounced on a failed cutback to make 76 for 4-4.

Mark Selby's game was transformed two years ago by shortening his cue action. Although he had recorded wins over Stephen Hendry and O'Sullivan and reached the 2003 Scottish Open final, his exceptionally long back-swing, even for short or slow shots, made him look unlikely to reach the top echelon.

His five centuries in beating Peter Ebdon 13-8 illustrated how much he has progressed. Another 121 was timely yesterday in that it helped him to a 5-3 lead over Ali Carter.

Matthew Stevens, who has lost two finals and three semi-finals here in the last six years, all by tight margins, has rarely come close to a major title elsewhere on the circuit since his 2000 Masters and 2003 UK titles. Whether because the Crucible's matches consist of more frames than in the normal run of tournaments or because of its unique ambience, the Welshman invariably plays well here - especially so in swiftly taking a 3-0 lead over Shaun Murphy, the 2005 champion.

Murphy, though, has more experience and a more rounded game than when he won the title as a 150 to 1 outsider and won four of the remaining five frames of the morning.

Stephen Maguire has been coming back to form lately and performed extremely solidly in leading Anthony Hamilton, appearing in his fourth quarter-final here, 5-3 at lunch.

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