Ronnie O’Sullivan v John Higgins LIVE: Old rivals battle for quarter-final place at World Snooker Championship

O’Sullivan is just not at it so far today. His break is loose, inviting Higgins to take on a red that he misses. O’Sullivan should then have an easy cut to the bottom right but it hits the jaws and comes out, allowing Higgins to pot it with the help of the rest. And as I type he is now lining up a black.

This is steady and rather impressive from Higgins. His tracking has been off a couple of times – ending up dead straight on a blue and a pink with six and five reds on the table – but he is unfazed by the pressure shots and by the end has put together a break of 118.

From 9-4 down, the Scot is now level. We could be in for a very, very long afternoon.

Now it’s Higgins’ turn to have a go – sending a red into the middle right, cutting a blue into the middle left before doing an alright job at breaking up the cluster of reds.

Another red, another blue that takes the cue ball up to the baulk cushion and all the way back down for a simple red in the bottom right.

Higgins, 13-7 up, then hesitates over whether to take on the green, brown or blue next. He opts for the latter, and pots it. That sees his options open up and, should he put together a run he is capable of, this match is about to become level.

Higgins leaves an open but difficult red that O’Sullivan sinks to the bottom right. But he gets unlucky and cannot get on to a colour so takes the safe option.

After some reasonable safety, O’Sullivan nips in to score six before running out of options and returning to baulk.

The Wizard breaks off in frame 18, momentum in his favour, but leaves a lone red for O’Sullivan to attack. He misses that but does not leave anything obvious on and Higgins will bring the cue ball back to baulk.

And Higgins makes hay from O’Sullivan’s unforced error. Again, his ball-tracking is not brilliant and having sunk the penultimate red he leaves himself too straight on the pink. From there he does really well to set himself up for the final red on the bottom cushion. A straightforward black follows, putting himself 17 ahead with only the colours to go, though he would have liked to have been better positioned for the yellow.

No matter, he sinks it with the aid of the rest and then makes light work of the green, brown and blue. He misses the pink but that is irrelevant and now there is only one in it.

That error allows O’Sullivan to put together a decent enough break. Although his third red was far from precise, his rhythm seemed to improve with every pot … until his positioning from a black leaves a more difficult than anticipated red, which he cannot convert.

On the BBC’s coverage Dennis Taylor says that a new cloth had been put on the table overnight, which may explain a relatively tricky start.

Higgins rolls in a red to the bottom left but then jaws the following pink to a middle pocket, allowing O’Sullivan in. It’s been a bit scrappy.

The cueball is respotted and O’Sullivan misses by an even greater margin, hitting the pink rather than a cluster of reds.

His third attempt is short and while the fourth hits the reds, he has afforded Higgins a couple of decent options.