Steve Davis put John Higgins on the spot during his post-match interview (Image: BBC)
John Higgins laughed off a question from Steve Davis after booking his spot in the last 16 of the World Snooker Championship as he was put under the microscope. The Scot, ranked fifth in the world, defeated qualifier Ali Carter 10-7 at The Crucible to progress to the second round for the 12th year in a row. It sets up a mouthwatering potential showdown between Higgins and seven-time world champion Ronnie O’Sullivan, his long-time rival, over the weekend.
But O’Sullivan must first overcome He Guoqiang, the 25-year-old Chinese player making his Crucible debut this year. He upset world No.18 Jack Lisowski in the final round of qualifying and will be no gimme for O’Sullivan, who only has eight wins under his belt in 2026. Higgins sat down with the BBC‘s Hazel Irvine, Ken Doherty and Davis moments after dumping Carter out. And the 50-year-old, bidding to win a fifth world title this year, said: “I’ve had a great season. I can’t complain. There’s every chance I could be playing Ronnie in the next round, which would be a great occasion. We’ve been there for so many years. I’d love to play him out there again.”
Davis then interjected to ask: “Or would you rather play his opponent?” Higgins laughed as Davis held out an imaginary microphone under his mouth, and had no real response to the obvious insinuation that China’s He would represent an easier test in the next stage of the £2.3million tournament.
But after a brief pause, Higgins continued: “No listen, you’re playing one of the greatest ever. It would be a great match if he comes through and we play over three sessions. The family haven’t come down, but they’ll all come down for that game. That’s a special game. It might never happen again! If Ronnie does get through, it’ll be a special occasion.”
The Wizard of Wishaw added on his victory against Carter: “I thought it was a good game. I just passed Ali doing an interview, he said every time I missed, I got away with it. If he didn’t fluke the blue, I could’ve been 5-1 in front and then I’m in control of the game.
“Listen there’s nobody in the game who has more respect for Ali as a cueist and as a player than me. He’s played against me so many times and he’s been flawless. He cues the ball beautiful. The important frame was 8-6.
“I didn’t have a good sleep last night to be brutally honest! But I’ve been here so many times. I saw Alan McManus this morning and I just said, ‘I’ve seen everything here.’ It gets harder, without a doubt.”
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John Higgins laughs as Steve Davis holds an imaginary microphone to his mouth (Image: BBC)
Higgins insists he’s delighted to still be putting away top players at his age. He explained: “It’s not the tournaments for me, it’s the calibre of players I’ve beat this season, that’s been the most important. I’ve beat [Zhao] Xintong a couple of times, I’ve beat Judd a couple of times, I’ve beat [Mark] Selby, I’ve beat Mark Williams.
“It’s them type of players you’re putting your game up against and the last few years, I’ve been losing those big matches. That’s the most important thing for me.”
Carter felt he was unfortunate against Higgins and didn’t get the rub of the green when he needed it. The Captain said to the BBC: “I felt the ball run was just relentless all day really. Any time John needed a bit of luck he got it and when I needed a bit, I didn’t. John is such a tough competitor. I knew I would have to scrape him off the table to beat him.
“It was tough. Glad to be here another year, we go home and go flying! Every time he missed, he got away with it. Sometimes that’s the difference. When I missed, I didn’t. All credit to John, he is a great competitor and a great bloke as well. He is one of the good guys on the tour. John is a legend of the game, it is nice to be on centre stage competing with him.
“He will tell you himself it was a really good match, a tight match and it was just a little bit of form made the difference but that is snooker and that is why we love it.”
Should Higgins meet O’Sullivan in round two, it will be the 80th time they have played one another with the Rocket winning 41 of those previous contests. Six of those meetings have come at the Crucible, the most recent in 2022 when O’Sullivan won 12-11 to reach the final, where he defeated Judd Trump to join Stephen Hendry on seven world titles.