Mark Williams scored one of his best ever Crucible victories with a 13-12 defeat of John Higgins in the quarter-finals of the Halo World Championship, winning a dramatic deciding frame on the last black.
A bona fide Crucible classic came down to the last few balls and Higgins - who had recovered from 12-8 to 12-12 - rattled a difficult final blue in the jaws of a baulk corner leading 69-56. Williams clipped the blue into the same pocket, the shot of the tournament so far, and rolled in the pink and black to snatch it. Having given both players a standing ovation at the start of the match and another rousing cheer before the deciding frame, fans in the packed arena rose again to applaud these two warriors of the baize at the end of a wonderful contest.
It's only the second time Higgins has lost a deciding frame at the Crucible, having won nine of his previous ten. The four-time champion looked to have the momentum with his late burst, but lost out by the smallest of margins. Instead it's Williams, who won his third crown in 2018 by beating Higgins 18-16 in the final, who goes through to the one table situation for the eighth time. He will meet either Judd Trump - who beat him 17-16 at the same stage in 2022 - or Luca Brecel over a possible 33 frames, with the first session on Thursday night.
Having suffered from problems with his eyesight in recent months, Williams came to Sheffield with low expectations, but class is permanent and he has potted the key balls at the big moments in his trio of wins, beating Wu Yize 10-8, Hossein Vafaei 13-10 and now Higgins. Having turned 50 last month, he is the oldest semi-finals since his boyhood hero Ray Reardon reached the same stage in 1985 at the age of 52. Two more wins would make Williams the oldest ever World Champion.
Higgins, who led 5-1 early in the tie before being hauled back to 8-8 on Tuesday night, had first chance in the opening frame today but missed a red to a top corner on 40 and Williams capitalised with 73 to go 9-8 ahead. In frame 18, Higgins trailed 46-21 when he undercut a tricky black to corner and again that proved costly as his opponent doubled his lead. Another miss from Higgins, on the blue to a centre pocket when he trailed 53-36 with one red left, let Williams in to stretch his advantage to 11-8. And a break of 52 in frame 20 from the Cwm cueman put him four ahead.
After the interval, the tide turned as Higgins dominated the 21st then rifled breaks of 94, 112 and 67 to level at 12-12. Both players had chances in the 35 minute decider and it looked to be going Higgins' way when he potted the last red then black, yellow, green and a difficult brown, but the blue stayed out and he has now to lost to Williams in five of their six Crucible meetings.
"It has to be up there with my best Crucible wins," said world number six Williams, whose other highlights of a fine season include winning the Champion of Champions and reaching the final of the Saudi Arabia Snooker Masters. "I didn't do much wrong from 12-8 to 12-12, John was coming back like a train. The last frame was edgy and we both missed a couple. The blue I potted was unbelievable, harder than it probably looked on TV. I went for it full-blooded and finished perfect on pink.
"What a game and what an atmosphere. The crowd and the standing ovation helped me through it. John and I are getting on a bit and we have given a lot back to the sport, and been decent ambassadors to try to grow it. Hopefully the crowd appreciate that and they know we might not play each other many more times. The support for both of us was incredible. The applause before the final frame went on so long as I had to wait an extra ten seconds to break off. That has only happened once before - at the Masters when I played John (in 2022). In one frame when John was at the table I was just looking around and thinking 'what an arena'. Luckily enough I ended up winning, but even if I had lost I would have enjoyed it anyway. I am not sure how I am still doing it at my age, but here I am."
Higgins said: "I had my chance. I had the blue. If I had potted the brown and rolled through for the blue, maybe it would have been unmissable. But under that much pressure, you play it with an element of safety. So I left a harder blue and missed. It was difficult. At that point I was struggling to see the pockets. Every credit to Mark because he potted a great blue. I had a golden chance earlier in the frame and only made 30, then I played a bad safety and let Mark back into it.
"The atmosphere was incredible. It's the best place in the world to play snooker. I am devastated right now, but that atmosphere was why we play this game. From 12-8 to 12-12 was the best I have played in the event. But it wasn't meant to be. It has been my best season for a few years with two big titles."
On the other table, Ronnie O'Sullivan needs three more frames to reach a 14th Crucible semi-final as he leads Si Jiahui 10-6 going into tonight's concluding session.
Champion in 2001, 2004, 2008, 2012, 2013, 2020 and 2022, O'Sullivan is chasing an eighth world crown which would surpass Stephen Hendry's tally of seven. China's Si is hoping to reach the last four for the second time having lost to Luca Brecel in 2023.
O'Sullivan took the opening frame today to lead 7-2 before Si pulled one back with a break of 101. A run of 75 from O'Sullivan made it 8-3 and he shared the next two for 9-4. Si dug deep and found breaks of 61 and 52 to close to 9-6. But 49-year-old O'Sullivan crucially took the last of the session with a break of 64. They return at 7pm with first to 13 frames to meet Zhao Xintong or Chris Wakelin.