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Higgins holds off Stevens fightback
Defending champion John Higgins held off a spirited fightback by Matthew Stevens at the 888.com World Snooker Championship to clinch a 10-5 victory.
Stevens, forced to qualify after a poor season, looked to be making an early exit after trailing 7-2 from the first session.
But the Welshman took the first three frames of the evening session to cut the gap and leave Higgins nervously looking over his shoulder.
Trailing 2-1 after a 112 break from opponent Stevens, the defending champion came out and took the next six frames.
Poor safety play, and what seemed like impatience, from Stevens cost him dear. At 4-2 he had a chance to put Higgins in trouble with a snooker after a foul, but opted for an ambitious double on the red into the centre pocket. The ball eventually struck the cushion three times and still wouldn't drop, leaving Higgins the chance to clinch the frame.
Most people had written Stevens off going into the evening session, and maybe the pressure of expectation was off, for the Welshman reeled off a couple of half century breaks to reduce the arrears to 7-4.
In frame 12 a spell of cat-and-mouse ensued, Higgins trying to stem the fightback. But he was caught in a snooker on the final red, resulting in a free ball, and the deficit was just two frames.
A break of 75 finally stopped the rot for Higgins, to take him into the mid-session interval 8-5 ahead, needing just two more frames to progress. Breaks of 120 and 13 secured Higgins's passage.
Elsewhere, Australian Neil Robertson beat Derbyshire's Nigel Bond 10-4 on Sunday morning.
Joe Swail impressed, leading Stephen Lee 7-2, while Peter Ebdon trailed 5-4 against Jamie Cope.
Read Richard Hercock at the Crucible by clicking here, or check out his latest Crucible blog.
And don't miss his daily reports in the Yorkshire Post newspaper.
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Saturday 26 May 2012
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