Scottish Open: John Higgins on track for maiden Edinburgh crown after holding off Tom Ford
- Planet Sport writer
- 16 December 2023
John Higgins stayed in contention to win the Scottish Open for the first time.
The Scot, who has twice been a beaten finalist, withstood a comeback from Tom Ford to reach the semi-finals in Edinburgh.
Higgins made the perfect start, winning the opening frame with a break of 132, and he was three frames up with Ford having scored only nine points.
But the Englishman fought back to level, taking the sixth frame with a break of 99, before Higgins claimed the final two for a 5-3 victory.
In the last four, the home favourite will take on Thai Noppon Saengkham, who saw off Sanderson Lam 5-3.
Defending champion Gary Wilson eased through to the semi-finals with a 5-0 hammering of Chris Wakelin, racking up half-century breaks in every frame.
His next opponent, Zhou Yuelong, had a much tougher time, the Chinese player winning a deciding frame against Stuart Bingham for a 5-4 victory after the Englishman had recovered from 4-1 to level, including a 142 clearance in frame six.
