John Higgins has reached the semi-finals of the £200,000 Champions Cup in Brighton this evening with a match to spare. Higgins beat Paul Hunter 5-3 and now tops Group B with a 100% record, following his opening 5-4 success over world number one Mark Williams. He said: "It was a great match and we hardly missed a ball between us in the first four frames."
Hunter now must beat Welshman Williams to reach the penultimate round. Both men have one win and one defeat from their first two outings.
Higgins' third and final group game against fellow Scot Stephen Hendry is now meaningless, but Hendry must beat Higgins to avoid collecting the wooden spoon. However, Higgins has promised that he will not lie down. "It certainly won't be a nothing match and I'm sure he will be going for everything. Stephen doesn't want to be bottom of the group if he can help it," said the world number two.
Hunter made a positive start by taking the opening frame with a break of 97. He also added 83 in the fourth though in between Higgins scored 189 points without reply thanks to runs of 68 and 71. The high standard continued after the interval. Higgins compiled breaks of 64 and 50 to lead 4-2.
Hunter came back with a 95 but Higgins finished ahead as he took the final frame 74 points to 43.
Earlier, Peter Ebdon kept in contention for the semi-finals, thanks to a 5-3 win over Jimmy White which leaves the Whirlwind likely to collect a wooden spoon for the second successive season.
Filed by Greg McKevitt
