John Higgins leads Shaun Murphy 13-11 in their enthralling World Snooker Championship semi-final at the Crucible Theatre after a tight first three sessions.
Higgins was particularly impressive in this morning’s exchanges, with the 50-year-old bidding to become the oldest world champion in snooker history, as he chases his fifth world title. He notched breaks of 72, 57 and 86 to open up a two-frame advantage, but Murphy – the 2005 world champion who is enjoying an impressive season – rallied to bring the scores level at 8-8 in their best-of-33 encounter.
The pair played eight more frames in the evening and Higgins’ closing break of 101 restored his two-frame advantage, before they finish their battle on Saturday.
Meanwhile, history was made in the other semi-final as Mark Allen and Wu Yize played out the longest frame in Crucible history. The epic encounter lasted for more than 100 minutes and saw some of the bizarrest scenes ever witnessed on the baize. A logjam was created when eight reds and the black were stuck over the right corner pocket, leading to a logjam that lasted for around 55 minutes. Eventually, Wu somehow prevailed and that match is locked at 7-7 with two sessions to play.
Follow all the latest scores and action from the World Championship at the Crucible below.
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World Snooker Championship prize money: How much do the players earn at the Crucible?
John Higgins v Shaun Murphy
- World Snooker Championship semi-final continues at the Crucible
- John Higgins leads Shaun Murphy 13-11 in semi-final
- Mark Allen and Wu Yize play the longest frame in Crucible history in the other semi-final
- Wu eventually wins it to level the match at 7-7
Inside snooker’s Chinese match-fixing scandal – and how they got caught
23:46 , Lawrence OstlereSome overnight reading: Three years on from the news that rocked the snooker world, Lawrence Ostlere delves into the story of an unprecedented scandal that saw 10 Chinese players banned from the game.
Read more:
Threats, bets and guilty WhatsApps: Inside snooker’s Chinese match-fixing scandal
World Snooker Championship prize money
23:23 , Lawrence OstlereWhat do they earn? Here are the players’ prize monies for this year’s tournament:
World Snooker Championship prize money: How much do the players earn at the Crucible?
Who is Wu Yize?
23:03 , Lawrence OstlereHere’s more on Wu Yize, the boy with bad technique became a star destined to win the World Snooker Championship:
Wu Yize: How the boy with bad technique became China’s next great snooker star
Pundits fume as Allen and Wu play out longest frame in Crucible history
22:44 , Lawrence OstlereA reminder of what happened earlier this evening, when an extraordinary frame lasted 100 minutes and 21 seconds as Mark Allen and Wu Yize engaged in a bizarre stalemate during their World Snooker Championship semi-final – but not everyone was impressed.
‘Embarrassment’: Pundits fume as Allen and Wu play longest frame in Crucible history
John Higgins 13-11 Shaun Murphy
22:23 , Lawrence OstlereStephen Hendry praises 50-year-old John Higgins for stepping up his game this evening. “He always finds another gear, it’s what he’s always done.”
John Higgins 13-11 Shaun Murphy - HIGGINS WINS FRAME 24
22:18 , Lawrence OstlereMagnificent break of 101, and John Higgins establishes a two-frame lead going into tomorrow’s closing session. What a superb semi-final this has turned into, full of quality breaks tonight.
John Higgins 12-11 Shaun Murphy
22:13 , Lawrence OstlereThis is a neat, careful break by Higgins so far as he nears a half-century, but still plenty of work to do to clinch the frame.
John Higgins 12-11 Shaun Murphy
22:07 , Lawrence OstlereHiggins gets the first look at a long pot and he arrows a red into the right corner pocket – beauitfully done! He has a real chance now of giving himself a two-frame advantage overnight in this race to 17...
John Higgins 12-11 Shaun Murphy
22:06 , Lawrence OstlereThe final frame of the session, and it feels like a big one. John Higgins gets a good break-off, finally, pinning the cue ball on the baulk cushion.
John Higgins 12-11 Shaun Murphy - HIGGINS WINS FRAME 23
22:03 , Lawrence OstlereMurphy’s challenge fails when he misses the black along the top cushion, and that’s another frame for John Higgins, his one-frame lead restored.
John Higgins 11-11 Shaun Murphy
21:58 , Lawrence OstlereMurphy puts on 32 and then decides to play for the snooker he needs, with one red remaining. He gets the snooker behind the yellow, but Higgins is able to swerve around it and make contact with the red.
John Higgins 11-11 Shaun Murphy
21:55 , Lawrence OstlereA sublime 70 break by Higgins ends when the black along the top cushion stays in the jaws! Murphy comes back to the table needing a snooker and all 67 remaining points...
John Higgins 11-11 Shaun Murphy
21:46 , Lawrence OstlereHiggins misses an awkward red with the rest, but Murphy does exactly the same, leaving Higgins a simple pot into the right corner pocket. It’s not a straightforward chance with some reds on the rails, but it’s a chance.
John Higgins 11-11 Shaun Murphy - MURPHY WINS FRAME 22
21:41 , Lawrence OstlereA brilliant century, and they’re all square again.
John Higgins 11-10 Shaun Murphy
21:37 , Lawrence OstlereIt’s Murphy who gets the first opportunity in this frame, and this is really impressive break-building. He is into the 70s and on the verge of drawing level once again. Murphy’s control of the cue ball has been almost total, and he’s playing with real speed and authority.
John Higgins 11-10 Shaun Murphy - HIGGINS WINS FRAME 21
21:26 , Lawrence OstlereHiggins gets it done with another couple of reds, and he’s back in front.
John Higgins 10-10 Shaun Murphy
21:20 , Lawrence OstlereHiggins puts 70 on the board before missing a long red. Murphy comes back to the table needing a snooker.
John Higgins 10-10 Shaun Murphy
21:09 , Lawrence OstlereHiggins is first to pot a ball and now he is building nicely, into the 30s with the reds nicely spread...
John Higgins 10-10 Shaun Murphy
21:02 , Lawrence OstlereWe’re back on at the Crucible in this absorbing semi-final. There are still 13 frames to play, but it has the signs of a match going all the way to a decider.
Murphy with a good break-off, and they’re into a safety exchange.
‘An embarrassment to snooker’
20:53 , Lawrence OstlereThe mid-session interval. If you missed it earlier, well, this happened:
‘Embarrassment’: Pundits fume as Allen and Wu play longest frame in Crucible history
John Higgins 10-10 Shaun Murphy - MURPHY WINS FRAME 20
20:42 , Lawrence OstlereThere’s no century break, but an 82 is enough to draw Murphy level. Great match, this.
John Higgins 10-9 Shaun Murphy
20:39 , Lawrence OstlereThis is excellent from Murphy, carefully building a potentially frame-winning break in one visit. He’s over the half-century mark and still going, with the balls set up perfectly...
John Higgins 10-9 Shaun Murphy - HIGGINS WINS FRAME 19
20:31 , Lawrence OstlereAn epic frame – albeit nothing seems epic anymore after Wu-Allen earlier – and Higgins battles through to victory after putting Murphy in trouble with a masterful snooker behind the black.
John Higgins 9-9 Shaun Murphy
20:25 , Lawrence OstlereMurphy pots the yellow brilliantly while escaping a snooker via two cushions – one of the shots of the match so far – but then misses a very pottable mid-range green.
They exchange snookers before Higgins pots the green and plays safe off the brown. Murphy leads 54-47 and this is very tense.
John Higgins 9-9 Shaun Murphy
20:18 , Lawrence OstlereHiggins runs out of position and misses a dificult pot to the middle pocket after a break of only 34. Murphy buries a brilliant long straight red and he’s got a chance now to push clear – but there are a couple of reds on the side rail and he is soon forced to play safe.
John Higgins 9-9 Shaun Murphy
20:13 , Lawrence OstlereOh dear, oh dear. Murphy misses a routine black off the spot with the frame at his mercy, and Higgins is back on the table trailing by 44 points, with a chance to respond.
John Higgins 9-9 Shaun Murphy
20:09 , Lawrence OstlereMurphy wins the ensuing safety battle after Higgins misses a tricky long red, and this is a good chance to score heavily.
John Higgins 9-9 Shaun Murphy
20:04 , Lawrence OstlereInto frame 19, then, and Murphy gets a good break-off with the cue ball nicely behind the yellow.
John Higgins 9-9 Shaun Murphy - HIGGINS WINS FRAME 18
19:59 , Luke BakerMuch better from John Higgins in this frame. He looks to have found his rhythm and is calmly takes his chance. The break goes beyond 50 with minimal fuss and he leaves Murphy needing snookers.
He runs out of position and when leading by 62 with only 51 on and although the Englishman returns to the table, the Scot is quickly back in and wraps the frame up.
A great response and John Higgins wins frame 18 to level the match once again at 9-9
John Higgins 8-9 Shaun Murphy
19:49 , Luke BakerHiggins only makes 10 with his first chance in frame 18 but then cheers around the Crucible as he crunches in a red to get back in. Can he make a more telling contribution this time?
John Higgins 8-9 Shaun Murphy
19:44 , Luke BakerAfter Higgins breaks off in frame 18, Murphy is agonisingly close to sinking a long red. Pursed lips and an “oooo” of frustration as it rattles both jaws and stays out.
Murphy does then get in with a red, and pots the yellow but nothing to follow those three points. Some cagey safety ensues.
John Higgins 8-9 Shaun Murphy - MURPHY WINS FRAME 17
19:37 , Luke BakerNo mistakes from Shaun Murphy this time as he clears the table to the black for a break of 44 and takes the opening frame of the evening session.
Shaun Murphy now leads 9-8 in the race to 17
John Higgins 8-8 Shaun Murphy
19:35 , Luke BakerDeary me! That was very poor from John Higgins. A simple black off the spot, pretty straight and he somehow rattles it out! Left it high and the drop of the head shows his frustration.
That has gifted this opening frame to Shaun Murphy. A massive let-off for the Englishman after his own miss
John Higgins 8-8 Shaun Murphy
19:33 , Luke BakerMurphy is looking in stroke early on here. A lovely mid-range red, nice canon and holding for the pink when he reaches 60 nearly gets him to the line. BUT NO! Where did that come from?!
Murphy misses the pink to left middle as it hits the top jaw and bounces out. He leads 60-0 but there’s still 67 points remaining...
This could be set up for a patented John Higgins counter-clearance with all five reds there waiting.
John Higgins 8-8 Shaun Murphy
19:31 , Luke BakerShaun Murphy in first in frame 17 with a crunched long red. The pack is decently split and the black available to both corners, making this a decent scoring chance.
He’s forced to play up for the yellow on 29 but a precise shot gets him back in prime position. The break moves beyond 40 and this is a great chance to get the opening frame on the board.
John Higgins 8-8 Shaun Murphy
19:23 , Luke BakerHere come the players for tonight’s delayed evening session. This should be a corker.
John Higgins in particular given a raucous reception as he walks down the Crucible stairs. Shaun Murphy will break in this opening, 17th frame.
Eight frames to be played this evening.
John Higgins 8-8 Shaun Murphy
19:10 , Luke BakerAttention now turns to the third session of the semi-final between John Higgins and Shaun Murphy.
A tight first two session sees them locked at 8-8 with eight more frames scheduled for this evening.
Higgins was particularly impressive in this morning’s exchanges, with the 51-year-old bidding to become the oldest world champion in snooker history, as he chases his fifth world title.
He notched breaks of 72, 57 and 86 to open up a two-frame advantage, but 2005 world champion Murphy rallied to bring the scores level at 8-8 in their best-of-33 encounter.
John Higgins v Shaun Murphy
18:58 , Luke BakerI’ll be honest, I’m a bit shell-shocked by what has just happened. But, the snooker keeps rolling on.
The other semi-final, between John Higgins and Shaun Murphy will resume shortly with the players locked at 8-8. That was due to start at 7pm BST but due to that carnage we’ve just witnessed overrunning, there’ll be a 30-minute gap from the end of that frame until this session begins, in order to set up the arena for the evening crowd.
So we should be getting underway around 7.20pm BST.
‘An embarrassment to snooker’: Mark Allen and Wu Yize play out longest frame in Crucible history
18:55 , Luke BakerMark Allen and Wu Yize played out the longest, “worst” and “most bizarre” frame in Crucible history during their World Snooker Championship semi-final on Friday.
The extraordinary battle lasted one hour and 40 minutes, surpassing the 85-minute frame between Mark Selby and Yan Bingtao during the 2022 World Championship.
The frame turned to farce when the black blocked the right corner pocket. With Allen leading 39-13 and the eight remaining reds all clustered near the right corner, Wu and Allen took it in turns to tap reds closer and closer to the black hanging over the pocket, with no pot for 55 minutes.
The result was a logjam, with the reds and the black all crammed around the corner pocket. It sent the Crucible crowd into a state of delirium, with spectators cheering every shot to the rafters as referee Marcel Eckardt desperately tried to keep control of the room.
“I’ve never seen a frame like it in all my years, I've never seen it like this, never this bad,” said John Parrott, speaking on BBC Sport. “These reds are just glued to each other now … Come on ref, you’ve got to do something here. You’ve got to step in. This is just silly.”
‘Ludicrous’: Mark Allen and Wu Yize play out longest frame in Crucible history
Wu Yize 7 (33) 7 Mark Allen - WU YIZE WINS LONGEST FRAME IN CRUCIBLE HISTORY
18:51 , Luke BakerI’m not sure what to say about that frame but we finally have a winner. Just ludicrous sporting theatre!
Wu Yize finally pots the pink and WINS THE LONGEST FRAME IN WORLD SNOOKER CHAMPIONSHIP HISTORY. It lasted 100 mins and 17 seconds and included the bizarrest sequence you’ll ever see with eight reds and the black over the right corner, causing stalemate.
It ends with the Chinese star drawing level at 7-7. Madness, utter madness
Wu Yize 6 (33) 7 Mark Allen
18:46 , Luke BakerWe race pass the 90-minute mark. This frame is now longer than a football match!
Mark Allen has potted the blue so now needs a snooker on the pink. AND WHAT A SNOOKER! Allen plays off the pink in one corner of the table, round the angles and tucks in behind the black on the top cushion. He had about an inch of room Remarkable!
Huge trouble for Wu but a brilliant hit! He comes off a cushion and connects with the pink using right-hand side. Sublime! He still leads 82-66 with pink and black remaining and Allen needing a snooker
We’re now at 99 minutes...
Wu Yize 6 (33) 7 Mark Allen - LONGEST FRAME IN CRUCIBLE HISTORY
18:36 , Luke BakerWE NOW HAVE THE LONGEST FRAME IN WORLD SNOOKER CHAMPIONSHIP HISTORY. We pass the 85:22 mark to surpass Mark Selby and Yan Bingtao.
Mark Allen pots the green and goes about trying to get a snooker on the brown. He plays safe and Wu Yize FLUKES THE BROWN to the middle pocket.
He now leads by 28 points with 18 remaining! OH MY WORD! Allen plays on for snookers, he needs two on the blue and Wu makes a horrendous error!
The black is over the right corner pocket, Wu sends the blue around the table and it knocks the black in! Seven penalty points to Allen. The score is now 82-61 with 18 points left. Allen still needs another snooker but this is ludicrous.
Wu Yize 6 (33) 7 Mark Allen
18:29 , Luke BakerWu gets back in and builds his lead to 78-51 but then misses the final green. Allen trails by 27 points with only 25 left on the table but he’s playing on for snookers.
We might be about to challenge the longest frame in Crucible history, which was 85 minutes and 22 seconds between Mark Selby and Yan Bingtao in the second round of the 2022 World Championship.
We’re about to reach the 82-minute mark...
Wu Yize 6 (33) 7 Mark Allen
18:25 , Luke BakerLife for Mark Allen? A poor safety shot from Wu Yize gives the Northern Irishman a look at the pot but he misses it. HOWEVER, Wu then tries a thin safety and misses the red entirely...
This will be the final frame of the session by the way (two short of the scheduled amount) - it’s reached the 75-minute mark and counting. And there’s still plenty of life left in it...
Wu now leads 61-51 with two reds still left
Wu Yize 6 (33) 7 Mark Allen
18:21 , Luke BakerWu Yize makes a break of 41 before running out of position and rolling up behind the blue to snooker Mark Allen. The Chinese star leads 61-47 but two reds are still on the table.
Wu Yize 6 (33) 7 Mark Allen
18:20 , Luke Baker“This is the dark side of snooker, this is,” grumbles seven-time world champions Stephen Hendry in the commentary box. But...
WE HAVE A RESOLUTION! Forced by the referee to get things moving, Mark Allen decides to pot the black, hoping that the reds will block each other and none will pot.
He gives away the seven penalty point but Wu Yize DOES have a pot on. Knocks in one of the reds, screws back and is on the black (which is now on its spot).
A golden chance to clear up and win the frame. Allen looks frustrated
Wu Yize 6 (33) 7 Mark Allen
18:15 , Luke BakerWe finally have some movement, over an hour into this frame.
Rob Spencer, who will referee the final and is one of the tournament directors, comes out to have a word with referee Marcel Eckhardt.
Eckhardt then addresses both players and says they’ll have three shots each to resolve this situation or he’ll order a re-rack.
Mark Allen is not happy, unsurprisingly given his healthy lead in the frame but there we go.
Wu Yize 6 (33) 7 Mark Allen
18:07 , Lawrence Ostlere“Come on ref, you’ve got to do something here,” says John Parrott on commentary. Fans are cheering every shot like it’s a football match. I can’t remember this ever happening at the Crucible before. This is bizarre...
Wu Yize 6 (33) 7 Mark Allen
17:57 , Lawrence OstlereWe are no closer to ending this extraordinary frame. Wu and Allen are just tapping reds around. Surely the referee needs to call a re-rack?
Wu Yize 6 (33) 7 Mark Allen
17:46 , Lawrence OstlereLet me bring you up to speed with the other semi-final between Wu Yize and Mark Allen. Allen has been sensational in this afternoon session, winning five successive frames to go from 6-2 down to 7-2 up – and he recorded the highest break at the Crucible this year with a stunning 145 clearance en route.
However, the pair are now locked in an almighty scrap – a ball hasn’t been potted for 25 minutes! – with the black blocking the right corner pocket which all eight reds are clustered near.
This frame might never end...
Higgins v Murphy – snooker live
17:36 , Lawrence OstlereJohn Higgins and Shaun Murphy continue their enthralling World Snooker Championship semi-final tonight at the Crucible Theatre after a tight first two sessions.
Higgins was particularly impressive in this morning’s exchanges, with the 51-year-old bidding to become the oldest world champion in snooker history, as he chases his fifth world title.
He notched breaks of 72, 57 and 86 to open up a two-frame advantage, but Murphy – the 2005 world champion who is enjoying an impressive season – rallied to bring the scores level at 8-8 in their best-of-33 encounter. The pair will play eight more frames this evening before finishing their battle on Saturday.
