This is WST report on the quarter-finals in Edinburgh
Higgins Beats Ford To Make Edinburgh Semis
John Higgins is through to the semi-finals of the BetVictor Scottish Open for the fourth time in his career, after beating Tom Ford 5-3 at the Morningside Sport Centre in Edinburgh.
The legendary Scot is hunting a maiden title in his home event, having already come close to capturing the Stephen Hendry Trophy on a number of occasions. Higgins was runner-up in 2016 and 2021 to Marco Fu and Luca Brecel respectively.
Higgins has been struggling to find his best game in previous round this week, but the 31-time ranking event winner now finds himself just two wins a way from a 32nd and a first since the 2021 Players Championship.
The opening stages of this evening’s encounter saw Higgins begin to hit form, with the Glaswegian firing in breaks of 132, 61 and 64 to establish a quickfire 3-1 lead. However, world number 18 Ford dug deep to claw his way back into contention.
Breaks of 58, 56 and 99 helped the Leicester cueman take three in response to restore parity at 3-3. Higgins took a hard fought seventh to stop the rot and a break of 71 in the eighth took him over the line as a 5-3 victor.
Higgins said: “I think Tom put me under pressure to go 3-3. I wasn’t getting clear cut chances, it was half chances. He missed a couple in the seventh which was a big one. He could have got on top, but luckily I managed to get the frame and finished the match off.
“It was a big win for me. I’ve lost a few times to Tom and he is such an improved player. His head doesn’t really go the way it used to in previous years. He is a top player. I know I’m going to have to play well tomorrow night now.”
Up next for Higgins will be Thailand’s Noppon Saengkham, who earned a 5-3 victory over maiden ranking event quarter-finalist Sanderson Lam.
Saengkham is gunning for a first trip to a ranking event final, having lost in the semis four times. He’s met Higgins twice in the Scottish Open previously, with the Scot prevailing in 2021 and the Thai scoring a win in 2020.
Saengkham said: “I’ve never got past the semi-finals. It would be good to happen tomorrow if I can, because one of my targets and one of my dreams is to win a trophy. I hope I can do this one day, I don’t know when.
“I think John is a top player. I hope tomorrow is going to be my day. I will just enjoy the game. I don’t know what will happen, but I will enjoy, smile and fight.”
Defending champion Gary Wilson earned his progression with a blistering 5-0 defeat of former Shoot Out Champion Chris Wakelin.
Wilson put on a break building barrage with runs of 68, 96, 118, 68 and 82. He faces China’s Zhou Yuelong in the semi-finals after he scored a nerve shredding 5-4 win over 2015 World Champion Stuart Bingham.
This report focuses almost entirely on the evening session and on John Higgins. It’s a shame. Gary Wilson is the defending champion, he’s trying to defend his first ever ranking title and doing a seriously good job of it. There isn’t much more Chris Wakelin could have done yesterday afternoon. He was kept cold all match. Gary was really impressive!
The next match in the afternoon was the completely opposite: it was hard fought. Neither player was at their best, but both were giving it all. It was compelling. If Gary can reproduce the form he showed yesterday Zhou is facing a titanic task today.
Ronnie was in the Eurosport studio in the evening. Of course the subject of his “disrespectful” withdrawal came up. Here is what he had to say, as reported by the press:
Ronnie O’Sullivan calls out rival after ‘disrespectful’ rant over Scottish Open withdrawal
Ronnie O’Sullivan has spoken out after his controversial withdrawal from the Scottish Open.
By Jack McEachen
Home favourite Graham was over the moon for a chance to compete against the sport’s greatest-ever player, who was off the back of a UK Championship win.
However, the tournament organisers were forced to scramble for a last-minute replacement after announcing that O’Sullivan had pulled out of the event at the 11th hour. This came after the 48-year-old hinted that he may miss the Scottish Open following his victory over Ding Junhui at the Barbican in York.
Graham was frustrated as his family and friends had taken time off work to travel to the tournament and watch him face O’Sullivan, with the teenager upset at the manner of the withdrawal.
But O’Sullivan has since set the record straight on the claims that he was disrespectful to his opponent. “I’m feeling alright, not too bad,” he told Eurosport when asked for an update on his medical concern. “I’ve recovered from the UK Championship. It was a hard tournament and took a lot out of me so I wasn’t quite ready to come and play here at the Scottish Open.
“Which was really disappointing as I love this tournament, love this city, love this venue and contrary to what everyone said I did pull out on Sunday night. I didn’t leave it until the last minute like everyone said and seems to think because I wouldn’t do that. But still happy to be here and watching a great tournament with fantastic players.”
O’Sullivan has also received surprise backing from long-time rival Shaun Murphy, who insisted that a “misunderstanding” led to the announcement of the Rocket’s withdrawal. Murphy believes that O’Sullivan did nothing wrong and was within the rules to decide against competing.
So, exactly as I expected, Ronnie did not withdraw last minute, but WST announced it last minute and kept his name in the draw for as long as possible. Sunday night is still late but it would have been possible for Alfie to travel if he had been asked on the Sunday. I very much doubt that Ronnie would say that he withdrew early enough if he wasn’t able to prove it. Was it a genuine misunderstanding or was it deliberate? Was it that WST was too busy at the Shoot Out and would missed the message? I’m not sure and everyone will have an opinion on it. I have mine… the fact is that keeping him in the draw may have sold some more tickets. Was that more important than giving another youngster an opportunity to play and allowing Liam to play in front of his family and friends? As I said everyone will have an opinion…
Ronnie O'Sullivan 
Oh, for heaven’s sake!
O’Sullivan didn’t pull out on Sunday afternoon, or even evening, when folks might still have checked their messages. He pulled out at night. Night is when most folks, except for love-sick teenagers, are sound asleep and no longer check for new messages.
So, folks found the message when they turned up for work on Monday, when for all intents and purposes it was too late, and certainly no one not living in the neighborhood could have made it to the venue.
Also of note, O’Sullivan professes to be very happy he’s there watching matches. Not a word of regret, though, as far as the text goes, over the two players prevented from competing in the first round of the Scottish Open by his late withdrawal. Neither a word of regret for the fans who paid and turned up to watch him play – for naught. Caring person that he is.
Moreover…
This doesn’t even aspire to make sense. If there was a misunderstanding leading to the announcement, either of two conditions had to be met: 1. The announcement was embargoed, or, 2. the announcement was in error – O’Sullivan didn’t withdraw. Neither is even remotely plausible. Whatever it was Murphy (or the lazy Express scribbler reporting on his statement) tried to express, they missed by a light year.
Grump, I agree that Sunday night was late. But what does “night” means? It comes early in this time of the year and maybe Ronnie hoped to be able to play after all. The thing is, he had said, right after the UK that he might withdraw from the event. He had said it on camera, right after the final. WST can’t have ignored it and they should have been prepared with a contingency plan. Yes, formerly, they had to invite the highest ranked player on the Q-School list. But should that fail – and given the weather this time of the year and the geographical situation of Edinburgh, a failure was a real possibility – they should have had a young up-and-coming Scot in reserve. As I wrote “governing is planning”. They failed the fans just as much as Ronnie did. And even when they knew, they kept it quiet for several hours.
We all know that O’Sullivan is perfectly capable of adjusting his verbiage to the impression he tries to raise. Had his withdrawal time qualified for “afternoon” or “evening”, he’d have said so. His term was “night”, and that is associated with “asleep”.
For the charge that WST kept it quiet for hours, there is not even a hint of a shred of evidence.
I agree, WST should plan better for the need of replacements. On the other hand, having a player over, with all the attendant cost and effort, who then won’t have the opportunity to play if all goes according to plans, is somewhat cruel, and thus best avoided.
There is evidence. Alfie Davies was contacted around 9 am, Steven Hallworth around 10 am. They only announced the withdrawal past 11 am. And, yes, having a player over has a cost, but not a huge cost if it’s a “local” which is what I suggested. And having a local is likely to please the local fans to an extend. It may be a small consolation but It’s something. BTW they should ALWAYS have a “reserve” player. Things happen that can’t be forecast. I remember players suffering from food poisoning, or suddenly taken ill. Neil Robertson going to the wrong venue, planes being delayedI, trains being canceled… you name it. and I remember Marcus Campbell in York in 2011, coming back from practice and finding his travel companion dead on his bed in the room they shared… BTW Marcus insisted on playing on that day but they shouldn’t have allowed him really. He was in no state to play. Anyway…
Yep, this is evidence. Evidence that this worked exactly as it should. After they found O’Sullivan’s message at the start of office hours on Monday, they contacted players in the order of succession. Only after #1 declined, #2 can be approached, and so on.
The official statement announcing the withdrawal, immaterial as it is, takes some time until everyone with a say on the wording signed up, and then someone has to post it. These guys aren’t O’Sullivan’s lackeys, with nothing on their hands other than to tend to O’Sullivan’s every whim. So, the posting going up at 11 am I would consider timely.
You can’t seem to factor in either the time the “local” wastes, or the emotional costs to locals showing up to play, only to have their hopes dashed if either no one is missing, or a Q Tour top-up takes the free spot. Do they count for so little as to be not worthy of your deliberation?
Can there be a better solution for this problem? Of course, and it starts with players announcing their being absent in the most timely fashion possible. The night before the start of the tournament is “last minute” for all intents and purposes, and that is hard to justify since not showing up seems to have been envisioned quite some time before. “The UK Championship has taken so much out of me” wasn’t something that surprised O’Sullivan just hours before the start of the first match. That is, if we resolutely resolve to take at face value the man’s pronouncements.
Because Ronnie said night you assume that it must have been very late. I disagree. This was never my understanding of the word night in everyday’s language. Not being a native English speaker, I checked the Oxford dictionary. Here is their definitions of “night”:
1. the period from sunset to sunrise in each twenty-four hours. “a moonless night”
2. the period between afternoon and bedtime; an evening. “he was not allowed to go out on weekday nights”
The number 2 – note the word afternoon and the fact they offer evening as the equivalent – is always how I understood the word, and if Ronnie said that he didn’t leave it to last minute, I would assume he actually withdrew on the Sunday not too late evening. Now, of course, we don’t know for sure, and we don’t know how he did it. If he sent WST a message or a mail, there is always a possibility that nobody read it until Monday morning. If he called them, and spoke to someone, it’s a different story.
That said, on the eve of a tournament there should always be someone on duty to check mails and messages. Things can and do happen. There might be a problem at the venue, an accident with a fitter, a player or referee taken ill…
Steven Hallworth
@stevenhallworth
If Ronnie had pulled out Sunday night, why were we, as q school top ups, not informed sooner? 10am Monday morning I was contacted by
@WeAreWST
to get to Edinburgh for 1pm to play – impossible.
Shame, as I’d have driven straight there if I could have made it.
Well…