Ruthless Ronnie O’Sullivan opens up 10-6 semi-final lead over John Higgins

Ronnie O’Sullivan took command of his World Championship semi-final against John Higgins as Mark Williams set up a thrilling finale to his Crucible clash with Judd Trump.

O’Sullivan made breaks of 99, 91, 70 and 73 to open up a 10-6 lead, but it was the manner in which he won the last frame of the session on a respotted black which will have hurt Higgins the most.

Higgins looked set to limit the damage – and make his highest break of the match into the bargain – only to miss a black off the spot which would have left O’Sullivan needing a snooker.

The six-time champion produced a stunning positional shot to get on the black from the penultimate red and a 43 clearance levelled the scores at 58-58.

O’Sullivan’s attempt to double the respotted black left Higgins with a difficult pot into the green pocket which the 46-year-old Scot was unable to convert, the black running down the table to leave O’Sullivan a simple pot into the middle.

Higgins had earlier taken two of the first three frames of the day to lead 6-5, but O’Sullivan kicked off a winning run of five frames in a row with a break of 99, despite having to ask referee Marcel Eckardt to remind spectators in the front few rows to sit still.

In the other semi-final, three-time champion Williams staged a brilliant fightback to trail 2019 winner Trump 13-11 heading into their final session on Saturday afternoon.

Trump led 11-5 after the second session and began Friday evening’s action with a break of 120, only for Williams to come storming back into the contest.

The Welshman kickstarted a run of five frames in succession with a total clearance of 137 and added contributions of 58, 53, 57 and 77 to close the gap to 12-10.

Trump, who had not potted a single ball in four of