Furious John Higgins storms off in disgust as snooker match halted before deciding frame

John Higgins blew his top and stormed out of the arena after his match with Chris Wakelin was curtailed with just one frame left.

The pair were embroiled in an engrossing quarter-final at the International Championship in Nanjing, China, which went all the way to a final frame. However, to the obvious frustration and surprise of they had to wait hours for the decider to take place after the afternoon session overran.

After Wakelin made it 5-5 in the best-of-11 affair, the Wizard of Wishaw returned to his seat, expecting the match-deciding frame to take place there and then. However, with the start of the evening session – which featured Chinese hero Ding Junhui’s quarter-final against champion Kyren Wilson – just minutes away, play was curtailed.

After realising what was happening, Higgins looked furious and appeared to mouth a swear word before storming off, with even the referee looking surprised at the turn of events.

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It was the second day in a row that a Higgins match had been held up in such circumstances. Eurosport commentator Philip Studd said: “Higgins has just been told that’s it, and you saw his reaction, he wasn’t happy. Goodness me. You’ve got to assume that’s the end of proceedings.

“Once again, for the second day running, John Higgins will be coming back for the evening session which is due to start in 35 minutes.”

But fellow commentator and former pro Neal Foulds felt officials had no choice but to halt play. He added: “He’s absolutely enraged by it but I think they’ve made the right decision because there’s a match to be played in half-an-hour, crowds to come in and out. Common sense prevails.”

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Higgins’ mood didn’t improve when the match resumed as Wakelin took the final frame to set up a semi-final clash against recent Wuhan Open winner Xiao Guodong, who beat Jackson Page 6-4.

There was further Chinese success as Ding defeated the in-form Wilson. Ding will face compatriot Xu Si, who came from 5-3 down to beat Gary Wilson 6-5 in their last-eight tie.

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