Incredible John Higgins stat emerges after thrashing Neil Robertson at Players Championship

John Higgins is into the quarter-finals of the Players Championship after an impressive 6-1 win over Neil Robertson, a victory which has seen an incredible statistic emerge from the Wizard of Wishaw’s epic career.

The Scot knocked in breaks of 133, 84 and 70 on his way to a comfortable win, in which he was really good but the Australian struggled to find anything like his best form, seemingly having an issue with his tip.

The four-time world champion snuck into the 16-man event after Ronnie O’Sullivan decided not to take up his place in the tournament and is looking to make the most of it, taking on either Chris Wakelin or Xiao Guodong in the last eight.

That contest will, incredibly, be Higgins’ 155th ranking event quarter-final, a monumental amount of success since he turned professional in 1992.

This number sounds mammoth enough without context, but it is an even more stunning achievement when considering that there have only been 456 ranking events in snooker history.

The 1974 World Championship is deemed the first ranking event in snooker, played a year before Higgins was born.

That means the Wizard has been to at least the quarter-finals in more than a third (33.99 per cent) of ranking tournaments ever played.

Higgins has played in 339 ranking events himself, which means he has been to at least the last eight in 45.72 per cent of ranking tournaments he has competed in.

No player has appeared in as many ranking quarter-final as Higgins and he is still going strong at 50 years old, ranked number five in the world.

After comprehensively beating Robertson, he said on Channel 5: ‘Really enjoyed it, I’ve not beaten Neil the last few times we’ve played. He played below par, not the way he normally plays, but I was happy with the way I played.

‘Without a doubt, with Ronnie not turning up, it gave me a free roll. Delighted to beat Neil, I hold him in such high regard, it’s a great win for me.’

He added in a post-match press conference: ‘I try to take the positives from beating guys like [Mark] Selby at the Tour Championship, Judd [Trump] at the Masters, and then Neil, because they’re three guys that are holding such high regard in the game.’

Higgins has long been a tinkerer when it comes to equipment and technical intricacies, making a couple of tweaks ahead of his trip to Telford.

‘The last two or three days before I came down I played for two or three days with Stephen Maguire,’ he said. ‘I changed the cue diameter [to 29mm from 30mm], I went back to years ago.

‘I’m trying something as well, I’m normally really on the cue, I’m trying to be not as strong on the cue, it’s giving me more power. If you’re too rigid you can’t get through the white, I’m trying something else and it seems to be working.’

Higgins is eyeing up a 34th ranking title this week, but is also adding another string to his immense snooker bow, by stepping into punditry and commentary duties for the new-look Channel 5 coverage of the Players Championship.

‘I look forward to it,’ he said. ‘I’m getting older in the game, it’s something new, I’ll try it.

‘I’m only practicing an hour a day anyway to keep my eye in. Looking at four walls, that’s the hardest part at these events, it’s using your time wisely. I’ll enjoy it.’

Higgins will be in the commentary box on Wednesday before returning to action on Thursday afternoon against either Wakelin or Xiao.

Also on the opening afternoon of the Players Championship, Mark Allen downed Wu Yize 6-3, setting up a quarter-final against either Mark Selby or Jack Lisowski on Friday night.

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