John Higgins edged into the semi-finals of the Irish Masters with a nailbiting 6-4 victory over Stephen Hendry at Dublin's CityWest Hotel this afternoon. Higgins has experienced a slump in form since winning the season's first three titles, but he completed in a string of sizeable breaks before benefiting from a slice of Hendry misfortune to reach the last four.
The high quality match came down to a couple of surprising lapses in the 10th frame. First, Hendry missed the pink to a centre pocket trying to obtain position on the last red. Higgins then set about clearing up but missed the final black off its spot, gifting Hendry a simple chance to make it 5-5. But Hendry suffered a kick that threw the ball off line and Higgins came back to stroke in a long black to progress.
Higgins opened the match with a run of 72, which was halted when his concentration was disturbed as a mobile phone went off in the audience. But Higgins continued to hit the right notes in the second as he completed a 131 total clearance to lead 2-0. Hendry hit back to land the third but Higgins potted 12 reds, 12 blacks for 96 in the third before missing the 13th red with a maximum break in sight.
Hendry made 64 to cut the deficit to 3-2 and drew level with a composed 137, the highest break of the tournament so far. He failed to claim the lead, however, when he was called for three successive misses while snookered in the seventh frame. Hendry eventually made contact with the reds but inadvertently knocked the pink in and Higgins weighed in with a 67 to edge 4-3 ahead.
A 73 in the next made it 5-3 and although Hendry reduced this to 5-4 with a run of 65, he failed to complete a recovery when he lost out in the dramatic 10th.
Filed by Shane Murray
