World Championship 2022 - Anthony McGill edges past gutsy Liam Highfield to reach last 16

Anthony McGill edged past a gutsy Liam Highfield 10-7 to reach the last 16 of the World Championships at the Crucible. McGill had pulled away from Highfield in Sunday's session and took a 6-3 lead into the morning session on Monday.

Ad/> And it was a much closer encounter on Monday with Highfield often the stronger player but unable to close the gap on his opponent — for every brilliant long red there was a poor positional shot or loose safety to follow, and a lack of consistency cost him a chance at thew match against an ice-cold McGill. /> World ChampionshipFrom Amazon to the Crucible – the incredible journey of White2 HOURS AGO 31-year-old Highfield kicked the morning session off with a run of 47 but a missed blue to right middle saw McGill at the table.

A lengthy safety battle ensued and Highfield was not over the line just yet, but some wonderful cue power helped in a long red and saw the underdog reduce the deficit to 6-4. Highfield should have taken the second frame of the morning too, grabbing a 63-point lead leaving McGill in need of a snooker.

But his inconsistency was on show as he missed an easy red to right middle and clattered the blue to give McGill five points, the Scot following up with a remarkable clearance of 59 to steal the frame by a single point and restore his three-frame lead. Highfield had to exorcise the demons of the 11th frame quickly and he did just that.

The two players exchanged easy missed reds in the next but it was Highfield who rediscovered his positional play and overturned a 38-point deficit to take the frame, with a remarkable long red to the bottom left the highlight when McGill thought he was safe. O'Sullivan referred to disciplinary committee after 'lewd gesture' at Crucible