‘He’s the greatest’ – John Higgins ready for Ronnie O’Sullivan’s ‘magic stardust’ in World Championship semi-final

John Higgins has hailed Ronnie O’Sullivan as the greatest and said he is proud to be playing in the same era as the Rocket ahead of their huge World Snooker Championship semi-final, starting on Thursday.

The two legends of the game meet for a sixth time in the World Championship, with Higgins picking up three wins and O’Sullivan two in their previous five Crucible meetings.

They first locked horns in Sheffield in the 1996 quarter-finals and they are still scrapping it out on the sport’s biggest stage at 46 years old – with the other member of the Class of 92, Mark Williams, in the other semi-final against Judd Trump.

In all contests, this will be the 77th time Higgins and O’Sullivan have played each other, with the Scot winning 35 and the Englishman 38 – with three draws in there for good measure.

Having played each other for over 30 years going back to their junior days, you might think O’Sullivan has lost the aura for Higgins that he holds for other players, but that is not the case.

The Wizard of Wishaw is still in awe of the Rocket all these years on, even though he appears to have had his number of late, winning six of their last seven matches.

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‘Listen, he has got an aura, of course he has,’ said Higgins. ‘He’s the greatest, I think I said that when I first seen him play snooker, he just had that way about him.

‘As I’ve said before, he’s like the Ready Brek boy, he’s just got that magic stardust.

‘I’ve never been jealous of him in all my life, with all his achievements, because I’m just proud I’m