Ronnie beat John Higgins by 6-5 this morning (in Europe) in an extraordinary quarter-final match.

Ronnie was nowhere near his best and struggled with the humid conditions. It was 2-2 at the MSI, but Higgins had been the better player. When they resumed, Higgins seemed to run away with the match: he won the next three frames. In the next, Higgins was first in again and looked a certain winner … Ronnie however didn’t give up. He won that frame from 58-0 down, and took the next as well. At that point his highest break was a mere 44 … and them he found something from nowhere. He forced the decider with a 100, then scored a 130 in the last frame to steal the match.

Ronnie’s form was poor, he made many mistakes, which maybe isn’t that surprising given that he hasn’t played competitively since last April, but his attitude and resilience were exemplary.

Here are the scores

Here is the report by WST:

O’Sullivan Rallies To Extend Streak

Defending champion Ronnie O’Sullivan battled back from the brink at 5-2 down, to beat old adversary John Higgins 6-5 and clinch his place in the semi-finals of the Shanghai Masters.

Victory means O’Sullivan extends his unbeaten run in the event, which he won the three previous runnings of between 2017 and 2019. The Rocket has won his last 17 matches in Shanghai and was last beaten in the city by Michael Holt back in 2016.

This afternoon’s showdown was the latest instalment of one of snooker’s standout rivalries. With 70 ranking titles between them, O’Sullivan and Higgins have become accustomed to competing against one another on the sport’s grandest stage. Today’s result means 39-time ranking event winner O’Sullivan now leads the head-to-head standings 38-33.

Defeat will come as a bitter blow for 31-time ranking event winner Higgins, who has suffered a number of agonising losses in recent times. The Glaswegian hasn’t managed to pick up silverware in a knock out event since the 2021 Players Championship, having been runner-up in five events between now and then.

It was Higgins who made all of the running to gain a stranglehold on today’s encounter, with his opponent struggling to find his form. Higgins crafted breaks of 103, 115, 71 and 74 on his way to moving one from the win at 5-2.

At that point it appeared O’Sullivan had a mountain to climb, but Higgins began to falter with the finishing line in sight. He spurned chances to close out the tie in the eighth and ninth frames, with the battling O’Sullivan capitalising to close the gap to 5-4.

Englishman O’Sullivan found his best form at the crucial moment and made Higgins pay. A century break of exactly 100 forced the decider, where he deposited a sublime long red and conjured a total clearance of 130 to emerge a 6-5 victor. The result sets up a semi-final showdown with Mark Selby tomorrow.

O’Sullivan said: “He should have put me away really. He had enough chances. He was 5-2 up and in control of the game, uncharacteristically for John he didn’t finish it off. He looked a little bit disappointed with himself. I didn’t expect to do anything because I was really awful. I’ve been awful for about 18 months now and that is a long time to not find any form.

“When you’ve got a nice crowd and a nice venue it forces you to dig in, you don’t really want to lose. At this tournament you give it 100% all of the way. I have a good record here and it would be nice to get to the final.

“I don’t play to entertain, I just play the way I play. Judd is similar to me and Jimmy White was the same, we play an attacking game. Luca Brecel is amazing and I love watching him. He is my favourite player to watch. That is the way he plays the game. If you ask Judd and Luca if they play to entertain, they would just say they play their game. I think the crowd enjoy more attacking snooker though.”

Here is the pivotal frame 8, shared by Eurosport on their YouTube channel

And this is the decider, also shared by Eurosport on their YouTube channel

And this is Ronnie’s – rather downbeat – post-match interview, shared by WST on their YouTube channel

And a few images, shared by WST on social media

Ronnie’s reward for his efforts is to play Mark Selby tomorrow over best of 19 frames… 🤨