John Higgins

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John Higgins
birthday	18th May 1975 (age 45)
place of birth	Wishaw
nationality	Scotland
Nickname (s)	The Wizard of Wishaw
professional	since 1992
Prize money	£ 8,386,569 (as of August 27, 2020)
Highest break	147 (10 ×)
Century Breaks	792 (as of August 27, 2020)
Main tour successes
World championships	4th
Ranking tournament victories	30th
Minor tournament victories	3
World rankings
Highest WRL place	1 ( 98/99 - 99/00 , 07/08 , May – September, December 2010 – May 2011)
Current WRL location	7 (as of August 17, 2020)

John Higgins , MBE (born May 18, 1975 in Wishaw ) is a Scottish snooker player and multiple world champion.

So far (March 2018) the “Wizard of Wishaw” has won a total of 30 world ranking tournaments, making it the third most successful player in modern professional snooker after Stephen Hendry and Ronnie O'Sullivan . He was world champion at the 1998 , 2007 , 2009 and 2011 World Championships. In the snooker seasons 1998/99 , 1999/2000 , 2007/08 and 2010/11 he was in first place in the official world rankings. In May 2010, however, he was provisionally excluded from all tournaments due to a betting scandal and later sentenced to a total of six months of tournament suspension. He then reported back with several tournament victories and was world number one again after a few weeks and world champion for the fourth time.

Career

Start of professional career and first world championship title in 1998

Higgins has been a pro since 1992. Together with Stephen Hendry and Alan McManus, he was part of the Scottish dream team , which won the Castrol-Honda World Cup in 1996 and the Coalite Nations Cup in 2001. In the 1997/98 season he was able to win a total of four main tour tournaments - including the 1998 world championship title , so that he climbed to first place in the world rankings and defended it in the following season.

In the following years he was no longer so dominant, but always remained in the top eight in the world rankings and also won the one or the other tournament on the main tour: He won about the Grand Prix in 2005 and defeated in the final Ronnie O'Sullivan with 9: 2, with four consecutive Century Breaks within a ranked match, which apart from him only the Canadian snooker players Robert Chaperone and Shaun Murphy achieved so far .

In the 05/06 season he won the SAGA Insurance Masters 2006 in London , also against Ronnie O'Sullivan. This time the match went over the full length of 19 frames, with O'Sullivan presenting a 60-point break in the last frame, before Higgins countered and secured the frame and thus the match and tournament win with the very last (black) ball. This match is still considered to be one of the most prestigious in the history of snooker. He also reached the final of the Malta Cup, but lost there to the Irish Ken Doherty 8: 9.

2006/07 season and second world championship title in 2007

The 2006/07 season started disappointingly for Higgins, at the Northern Ireland Trophy in August he lost in the third round to eventual winner Ding Junhui 3-5 . In September, however, he reached the final of the Pot Black Cup , an invitation tournament, but was defeated there by Mark Williams . At the following Grand Prix in October he was eliminated in the quarter-finals against Mark King with 2: 5. In December, Higgins made it to the semi-finals at the UK Championship after victories over Joe Perry , Stephen Lee and Mark King , in which he lost 7: 9 to eventual tournament winner Peter Ebdon . At the Masters he was set as defending champion, but was eliminated in the round of 16 against his compatriot Stephen Maguire 5-6 . The Malta Cup ended with a 3-5 defeat in the first round against Marco Fu , and at the Welsh Open he also lost in the first round to later finalist Andrew Higginson . At the China Open he made it to the quarterfinals, but also met the eventual winner Graeme Dott , to whom he lost 2: 5.

He secured the world title for the second time in 2007 by beating Mark Selby 18:13 in the final . The match lasted an unusually long time, until about 1 a.m. it was the longest final to date. In the first round, Higgins had clearly triumphed 10: 4 against Michael Holt . He also defeated the Irish Fergal O'Brien in the round of 16 with 13: 4. In the quarter-finals he met the favorite and world number one Ronnie O'Sullivan, whom he defeated 13: 9. In the semifinals, he met his compatriot and training partner Stephen Maguire. Maguire was in front for most of the match, but in the end Higgins turned the match and won by 17:15.

With this title win, he also regained number 1 in the official world rankings after seven years.

2007/08 season

As a world champion and world number one, the 2007/08 season was not very successful for him and without participation in the finals at the Main Tour tournaments. In August he lost 5-3 to Mark Selby at the newly introduced Shanghai Masters in the round of 16 . At his home tournament, the Grand Prix in October, he lost 4-5 in the round of 16 against eventual tournament winner Marco Fu . At the Northern Ireland Trophy in November he lost his opening match 4-5 against Fergal O'Brien , the eventual finalist. With a fourth place the Scot moved into the play-offs in the Premier League and defeated Ding Junhui 5-3 in the semifinals , but lost the final to Ronnie O'Sullivan 4-7. The UK Championship in December also ended early for him with a disappointing 9-3 first-round loss to Jamie Cope . At the Masters in January 2008 he also lost his opening match against Ding Junhui 4-6. In February he made it into the knockout round at the Malta Cup as group first, but lost 6-2 to defending champion and eventual finalist Ken Doherty . He also made it to the quarterfinals at the Welsh Open for the first time of the season, but was defeated there again by Mark Selby , the eventual tournament winner, 2: 5, as well as at the subsequent China Open in March, where he won after defeating Joe Swail and Mark King again lost to Mark Selby with the same result in the quarterfinals. At the world championship he was set as the defending champion and won his first round match with 10: 5 against Matthew Stevens , but was defeated by Ryan Day 9:13 in the last sixteen.

As a result of these mediocre results, he slipped back to 5th place in the world rankings. In the same year he was co-organizer of the World Series of Snooker, which was held for the first time in 2008 .

2008/09 season and third world title in 2009

The 2008/09 season was extremely successful for the Scot. In August he reached the semi-finals of the Northern Ireland Trophy in Belfast , where he lost 4-6 to Dave Harold . At the Shanghai Masters in September, however, he failed in the round of 16 against Ryan Day with 2: 5. In October he won the Grand Prix in his hometown of Glasgow after beating Anthony Hamilton , Stephen Hendry , Ding Junhui and Judd Trump with a 9-7 final victory over Ryan Day . However , he finished the Premier League snooker with a disappointing sixth place. At the UK Championship in December he made it to the quarterfinals after victories over Joe Swail and Ding Junhui , but lost there to Stephen Maguire and reached the semifinals at the Masters in London in January , where he was clearly defeated by Mark Selby 2: 6. In March he was eliminated at the Welsh Open in the round of 16 against Neil Robertson with a score of 4: 5. In April he made it to the final of the China Open for the second time since 2006 , after defeating Ronnie O'Sullivan 5: 4 in an exciting match in the quarter-finals and Ryan Day in the semi-finals . In the final, however, he was defeated by Peter Ebdon 8:10.

He won his third world title in 2009 when he beat Shaun Murphy 18: 9 in the final. Until the meanwhile 5: 5, both actors were at eye level. But then Murphy had little to oppose the eventual world champion. In the previous rounds, Higgins had shown a lot of fighting spirit and morale when he was behind and still won in the end. In the first round he clearly dominated and beat Michael Holt 10: 5. In the round of 16 he met Jamie Cope , whom he defeated 13:12 despite being 10:12 behind. In the quarterfinals he met Mark Selby ; the match was considered the best of this world championship . Both players were in top form and Higgins managed to turn an 11:12 deficit and he won 13:12. In the semifinals, Higgins was clearly the dominant player, beating Mark Allen 17:13.

2009/10 season

The 2009/10 season also began very successfully for John Higgins, he reached the semifinals of the Shanghai Masters after victories over Matthew Selt , Mark Williams and Ryan Day , but was clearly defeated by Ronnie O'Sullivan 6-1. At the following Grand Prix in Glasgow in October , he defeated Mark Joyce , Ronnie O'Sullivan and Mark Allen as defending champion , before failing in the semifinals in a high-class match on the last black ball just 5: 6 against eventual tournament winner Neil Robertson . He dominated the Premier League snooker first and moved to first place and unbeaten in the play-offs, where he failed in the semifinals with 3: 5 to Shaun Murphy . At the UK Championship 2009 he made it to the final, where he was defeated by Ding Junhui with 8:10. Previously, he had met Ronnie O'Sullivan again in the semifinals and had beaten him 9: 8 in a dramatic match. The year 2010 started with a 3-6 knockout loss to Mark Allen at the Masters in January. At the following Welsh Open in March he moved into the final again after victories over Michael Judge , Graeme Dott , Mark Selby and Ronnie O'Sullivan, where he met Ali Carter , whom he clearly defeated 9: 4. He has never played as well as in the first four frames of this finale, Higgins said after the game. However, the China Open ended with a disappointing 5-2 knockout knockout loss to Mark Williams , eventual winner. At the 2010 World Cup, he was the defending champion and first in the world rankings and won his first round match with 10: 5 against Barry Hawkins. In the second round, however, he had to admit defeat to a combative Steve Davis with 11:13.

Betting scandal

On May 2, 2010, the News of the World published a video showing John Higgins during betting rigging. The English tabloid had staged the alleged offer from Eastern European betting fraudsters and confronted the Scotsman when he was in Ukraine. Although there were no concrete agreements or commitments from the player, he did not reveal that he would not accept the proposal. Neither he nor his manager Pat Mooney, through whom the journalists had arranged the meeting as alleged investors, informed the snooker association.

After it became known, Higgins was temporarily excluded from all tournaments on the Main Tour and banned until further notice.

In the disciplinary proceedings of the World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association , he stated in his defense that he had only pretended to accept the offer because he was afraid of facing the Russian mafia. On September 8, the sentence was passed, according to which Higgins had to serve a six-month suspension. In addition, he had to pay a fine of £ 75,000 and procedural costs of £ 10,000. He was found guilty on two counts: on the one hand, he gave the impression of attempting to manipulate results and, on the other hand, for failing to inform the WPBSA. Higgins admitted this. The other two charges (active match fixing and corrupt behavior) were dropped by the prosecution after viewing the original raw video and further evidence. It was credited to him that he only found out about the manipulation intent on the way to the decisive meeting, whereas his business partner Pat Mooney had already known about it. He was awarded the heavier guilt and was banned from snooker for life.

Higgins' suspension ended on November 2, 2010.

After the lock

The first tournament on the Main Tour that Higgins was allowed to start again at was the Euro PTC tournament Ruhr Championship 2010 in Hamm . At the minor world ranking tournament he reported back with a tournament victory. In the final, he defeated Shaun Murphy 4-2. At the next EPTC tournament in Prague he reached the final. At the next world rankings tournament, the UK Championship , he won a spectacular final 10: 9 (after 2: 7 and 5: 9 deficit) against Mark Williams and thus regained first place in the provisional ranking. He had already eliminated some favorites in the previous rounds, for example he beat the 2006 World Champion, Graeme Dott, 9: 8 in the round of 16 and Stephen Maguire 9: 7 in the quarterfinals. He won the semifinals against Mark Allen with a clear 9: 5.

He won his first match at the German Masters in Berlin, but then withdrew from the tournament due to the death of his father. In the next world rankings tournament, the Welsh Open , he became the first player since Ronnie O'Sullivan to defend his title in 2003. He won 9-6 against Stephen Maguire after being 2-5 behind.

2010/11 season and fourth world title in 2011

After John Higgins had clearly lost to Shaun Murphy in the quarter-finals at the China Open in Beijing, he was ranked number 4 behind Mark Williams, Mark Selby and Ding Junhui for the World Championships in Sheffield. In the first round he met Stephen Lee, whom he had already met in the first round of the UK Championship 2010, and whom he had defeated there 9: 6. This time, however, Higgins clearly dominated the match and won 10-5. In the last sixteen he met Rory McLeod. Higgins could not shine in terms of play, but he secured a clear 13: 7 victory. In the quarterfinals he met Ronnie O'Sullivan, who had overcome his form crisis with the World Cup. At first it looked like O'Sullivan would win clearly, but then Higgins turned the match around and won 13:10. In the semifinals he met Mark Williams again. Although Williams had a lead for most of the match, Higgins was able to turn the match around and win 17:14. In the final, he met 21-year-old Judd Trump, who had previously won the China Open. Trump was in the lead for most of the match, but Higgins was able to turn the match around again thanks to his tactical experience and fighting spirit and he won 18:15.

2011/12 season

The 2011/12 season was initially rather unsuccessful for Higgins. At the PTT-EGAT Team World Cup , an invitation tournament in Thailand , he was eliminated as defending champion with the Scottish team in the quarter-finals against Northern Ireland. At the first full ranking tournament on the Main Tour, the Australian Goldfields Open in Bendigo, Victoria in July, he suffered a 4-5 first-round defeat against Matthew Selt , although he had already led 4-2. At the Shanghai Masters in September he lost to Neil Robertson 2-5 after victories over Mark Davis and Stuart Bingham in the quarterfinals . At the UK Championship in York in December he was the defending champion, but he won his first round match against Rory McLeod after a 2: 4 deficit with 6: 5. In the second round, he then met his compatriot Stephen Maguire . Higgins fell behind early and Maguire drew 5-1 away. Then Higgins started a comeback and won three frames in a row, so that he shortened to 4-5. However, Maguire won the tenth frame and thus the defending champion was eliminated.

In the run-up to the UK Championship, Higgins had criticized the chairman of the World Snooker Association , Barry Hearn , because he had decided to shorten the distances at the UK Championship in the first three rounds from a maximum of 17 to 11 frames.

In addition, the Scot confirmed that he suffered from severe back pain, which was caused by the long car journeys that have recently increased.

The Players Tour Championship started disappointingly for the world champion. So he received a first round defeat at the first PTC tournament in Sheffield and was eliminated from Ali Carter in round 3 of the second tournament in the series in Gloucester . In the third tournament, which was played again in Sheffield , Higgins came to the last sixteen, where he was defeated by Graeme Dott 2: 4. The fourth PTC tournament, the Paul Hunter Classic in Fürth , started well for him at first, but then surprisingly failed in the third round against Li Yan 3: 4. The PTC 5 was held again in Sheffield , this time the Scot moved into the final after victories over David Grace, Michale Wasley, Alan McManus , Ryan Day , Neil Robertson and Barry Hawkins , but lost there 1: 4 to a well-disposed Andrew Higginson . At the Warsaw Classic 2011 , the 6th PTC tournament in the series in Warsaw , Higgins was missing. The 7th PTC tournament in Gloucester , the so-called "Pink PTC", ended for him in the 4th round with a defeat against David Morris. He made it to the quarterfinals of the 2011 Alex Higgins International Trophy , the 8th PTC tournament, after defeating Ian Burns, Nigel Bond , Ashley Wright and Gerard Greene . However, he lost there against Mark Allen 3: 4. At the 9th tournament in the series, the Antwerp Open 2011 in Belgium, he made it into the quarter-finals again after victories over Matthew Couch, Ashley Wright, Ken Doherty and Mike Dunn , but this time lost to Judd Trump 2: 4. The tenth PTC tournament was played again in Sheffield . This time John Higgins defeated David Hogan, Adrian Gunnell , Stephen Hendry , Neil Robertson and Joe Perry to face Michael Holt in the semi-finals . The eventual winner of the tournament defeated the world champion 4-2. PTC No. 11 was played again in Sheffield , but Higgins surprisingly dropped out in the first round against Justin Astley. In the subsequent qualification for the twelfth and final PTC tournament in Fürstenfeldbruck , Higgins missed the entry into the main round with a 1: 4 defeat against Mark Davis .

In the new year he won his opening match against Matthew Stevens 6-2 at the Masters , the most prestigious invitation tournament on the Main Tour, which was held for the first time in 2012 at Alexandra Palace in north London . He had not succeeded in doing this since the Masters in 2009. Since his last win in 2006, the Scot has lost 4 of 5 first-round matches at the Masters, which was held at Wembley Arena from 2007 to 2011 . In the quarter-finals, Higgins finally met Graeme Dott , who had defeated him 6: 4 in the second round a year ago. But this time Higgins dominated the match and won 6-3 in the end. In the semi-finals, England's Shaun Murphy took an early 3-0 lead. Higgins was able to get close to Murphy at 4-5, but eventually lost 4-6.

At the German Masters 2012 , Higgins was able to move into the round of 16 with a first round win of 5: 1 against Mark Davis , but was eliminated there with 0: 5 against his compatriot Stephen Maguire . This was the Scot's first defeat in 16 years without winning a single frame. The last time this was the case at the Asian Classics in 1996, when Higgins lost to Carl Burrows 5-0.

The Welsh Open 2012 , in which Higgins was the defending champion, got off to a promising start for the Scotsman when he won his first-round match 4-1 against Liang Wenbo . In the last sixteen he met another Chinese with Ding Junhui . Ding took a 2-0 lead early on, before the Scot countered 3-2 with his match play and excellent tactical game as well as minor breaks. He had the chance to perfect the win in frame 6, but missed Pink after a 58 and had to accept the equalizer. In the final frame, Higgins had no chance after Ding broke an 80s. He lost for the third time in a row in a ranking tournament in the round of 16.

At the Haikou World Open , which was held for the first time in China , Higgins achieved his undisputed best performance of the season. Although he only narrowly defeated Marco Fu 5: 3 in the first round , he distanced the Englishman Jamie Cope 5: 0 in the round of 16 , with breaks of 133, 83, 73 and 50 points. In the quarter-finals, however, he had to admit defeat to a well-humored Robert Milkins 3: 5, even if the Scotsman also got breaks of 67, 136 and 97 points.

The PTC Grand Final in Galway, however, ended with a major setback for him in the first round when he was defeated 3: 4 to the Welshman Jamie Jones , although he had already led 3: 1.

At the China Open in Beijing , he won a patience game in the first round against Rory McLeod , but failed in a close match at the eventual tournament winner Peter Ebdon 4-5 in the round of 16 .

At the end of April he was defending champion for the third time in five years at the World Championships in Sheffield, but surprisingly here he won his first round match against Liang Wenbo by 10: 9. In the last sixteen he met Stephen Hendry, who was very in shape . Despite their long career, both Scots met here for the only time at a world championship, Hendry clearly defeated the poorly playing Higgins 13: 4. After his elimination in the quarter-finals of the World Cup, Hendry declared his retirement as a professional snooker.

In 2012, Higgins was inducted into the Snooker Hall of Fame .

John Higgins (2013)

2012/13 season

After the disappointing end in the second round of the World Cup, the 2012/13 season started relaxed for the Scot. Higgins was absent from the first two major ranking tournaments of the season, the newly introduced ranking tournament Wuxi Classic in June and the Australian Goldfields Open, as well as the 6-Red World Championship 2012 , an invitation tournament, and the first two PTC tournaments in China and England private reasons. He had already announced in the run-up to the season that he would not take part in the first tournaments of the season in order to be able to take care of his family more.

The UK PTC 2 in Gloucester in August was the first tournament of the new season in which the Scot took part after defeating Ben Harrison 4-1 frames in his first match, but failed in round 2 of the last 64 on reigning Australian Open champion Barry Hawkins with 2: 4 frames.

Due to his absence from the first two world ranking tournaments of the season, Higgins fell out of the top 6 of the snooker world rankings for the first time in 17 years with the seventh world ranking. The Scot finished the 1994/1995 season in 11th place. Since then, he has remained consistently in the top 6 and only dropped to sixth place twice (in the 2004/05 and 2011/12 seasons).

At the following tournaments of the PTC series , Higgins could not initially convince either, so he surprisingly failed in his third match at the Paul Hunter Classic in Fürth in August at the Indian Pankaj Advani with 1: 4, after he had previously defeated his compatriot Michael Leslie with 4: 2 and Craig Steadman 4-1. At PTC Event 3, which took place again in England , he lost 4-1 to Alfie Burden in round two .

The first full ranking tournament of the 2012/13 season in which John Higgins participated was the Shanghai Masters in China . Here he got up against Jamie Jones in Round 1 , who had already beaten him 4-3 last season and had also reached the quarter-finals at the last World Cup. But after a mediocre start, the Scot turned the match around and in the end won clearly with 5: 2, even though he tried a maximum break in the fifth frame, but failed at 80 points. In the round of 16 he even managed a 5-0 win over Welsh Ryan Day , although he did not get any noticeably high breaks and he mainly benefited from the high error rate of his opponent. In the quarterfinals, Higgins met Ali Carter and, despite a bad cold, went away early with breaks of 103, 69 and 57 points to 4-1. But then he allowed his opponent to get back into the match by making a mistake, and he promptly won 2 frames in a row. But in the eighth frame, Higgins made the win perfect. With a nearly flawless 6: 3 over the Englishman Shaun Murphy , Higgins moved into the final. After Murphy took the first frame with breaks of 60 and 59 points, the Scot won the next two frames with breaks of 82 and 66 points. But Murphy equalized at the break and then also won frame 5. But then the four-time world champion turned up and pulled away with breaks of 70, 94 and 135 points to 5: 3. He did not allow himself to make any mistakes. He was also able to win the ninth frame with a 54 and thus win against the Englishman for the first time since the 2009 World Cup final in fully-fledged ranking tournaments. On September 23, 2012, he managed the sixth maximum break of his career in the final against Judd Trump , after he had already been 5-0 down. Trump managed to break 80, 74, 111 and 59 points in the first session, and in frame 1 the Englishman had even tried a maximum, but missed the last red at 112 points. Nevertheless, after this brilliant performance by Trump, the Scot was 2: 7 behind in the first session. However, he showed fighting qualities when he won 6 frames in a row after the break with top breaks of 89, 74, 76 and 71 points and thus not only equalized, but even led 8: 7. They split the next few frames before Judd Trump equalized to 9: 9. In the decision frame he got the first chance, but he pretended to be black after 36 points. Higgins countered with a 61, winning a ranking tournament in China for the first time in 13 years. After this 25th tournament victory in his career, he temporarily returned to third place in the world rankings. Up to this tournament only Stephen Hendry and Stuart Bingham had achieved a maximum in the final of a ranking tournament. It was the second for John Higgins.

But after this success his negative streak at the PTC tournaments continued for the time being; at the second tournament of the European Tour, the Gdynia Open in Poland, he was defeated by Ding Junhui 3: 4 frames in round three, after he had previously beaten Gerard Greene and Christopher Keogan.

At the subsequent Antwerp Open in Belgium, the next tournament on the European Tour, the Scotsman already ended in the round of 16 against Ali Carter , even if he showed a significantly better performance overall, his opponents Lee Page, Michael Holt and Ricky Walden with 4 : 0, 4: 1 and 4: 1 left little chances and in the end only narrowly lost.

The next full ranking tournament, the newly introduced International Championship in China, ended with a bitter disappointment for Higgins, as he was eliminated in round one against the Chinese Cao Yupeng 3: 6. He tried another maximum break in frame 8, when he was already 2: 5 behind, but failed after 80 points.

It was not until November that Higgins found his way back to success at the fourth tournament of the PTC series in Great Britain, when he made it to the round of 16 after victories over Jamie O'Neill 4-1, Rod Lawler 4-2 and Ben Woollaston 4-3. to win there in a classic against the old master Steve Davis also 4: 3. He then defeated Barry Hawkins, one of the top players in the quarter -finals, and Anthony Hamilton 4: 3 in the semifinals . In the final, Higgins finally continued his winning streak against the meanwhile world number one Judd Trump by beating him 4-2. He had previously Trump in 2009 and 2012 in the Snooker Premier League each with 4: 2 and in the final of the World Cup 2011 with 18:15 and in the final of the Shanghai Masters 2012 beaten 9 and only one match at the: 10 Antwerp Open 2011 lost .

At the following Bulgarian Open in Sofia, Higgins was initially able to continue his series by winning over amateur Georgi Velichkov (4: 0), Barry Pinches (4: 1), Craig Steadman (4: 2) and Liang Wenbo (4: 4: 2) made it to the quarterfinals, beating Rory McLeod 4-0 and then Neil Robertson 4-2. In the final, however, he met Judd Trump again, to whom he was defeated 0: 4 frames this time.

The UK Championship in December, traditionally the most important tournament after the World Cup, got off to a bad start for Higgins. Despite a strong headache, he defeated Michael Holt 6: 3 in his first round match, but the result could have been much closer and Higgins benefited largely from the high error rate of his opponent.

In the round of 16 he fell early with 2: 5 against Mark Davis, who played strongly this season . But then Higgins played his seventh maximum break and then even managed to equalize thanks to his good match play. In the decisive frame, however, he missed a first-class chance and was eliminated 5: 6 against Davis, who could not be taken away from the win.

After not participating in the first tournament of the new year 2013, the Munich Open , he met Ali Carter in round one at the following Masters , the second tournament of the Triple Crown . He fell behind with 0: 2 early on, but was able to turn the match around and won 6: 3. In the quarterfinals he met Shaun Murphy again , who had beaten Higgins in the semifinals of the Masters last year. After an early lead with 4: 1 and later 5: 4, the Scot missed many chances and so Murphy was able to prevail again with 6: 5.

In the following invitation tournament, the snooker shoot-out , he lost in the first round with 1:96 points against Peter Lines .

At the German Masters held shortly afterwards , he met Peter Lines again in the second qualifying round. Higgins was set for the second round. He had to admit defeat 3: 5 and so missed the main round.

At the beginning of February he was eliminated in the first main round of the Welsh Open . Higgins was able to qualify with 4: 1 against the amateur player Gareth Allen for the main round, there he was defeated by the Irish Ken Doherty with 1: 4.

At the World Open , he then had the second best result in a world ranking tournament this season. With Stuart Bingham and Ding Junhui he defeated two top 10 players 5-0 each and only lost to Mark Allen in the semifinals. After that he could not win a match until the end of the season and was eliminated from the PTC finals as well as the China Open and the World Championship at the beginning. The World Cup defeat by 6:10 against Mark Davis had a particularly big impact, because he lost many points in the two-year ranking of the world rankings compared to his title win in 2011. For the first time since his third year as a professional, he was in 11th place outside the top 10 at the end of the season.

2013/14 season

John Higgins 2014 at the German Masters

The 2013/14 season got off to a particularly promising start with the Bulgarian Open , the first tournament on the European Tour , where Higgins made it to the final last year. He reached the quarterfinals with victories over Andrew Higginson , the Belgian Luca Brecel and the former world champion Shaun Murphy , with breaks of 112, 64, 102.62, 60 and 86 points and he lost only two frames. In the quarterfinals he met the Irish Fergal O'Brien , whom he beat 4-2 and against whom he managed another Century of 100 points. In the semifinals, another top favorite, Ronnie O'Sullivan, was waiting . The reigning world champion took an early 2-0 lead thanks to a few mistakes by Higgins and also had the opportunity to pull away to 3-0. In the final on the colors, however, the Englishman punched blue and black at the same time, so that Higgins could shorten and ultimately start his comeback. With breaks of 93, 55 and 76 points, Higgins won the next three frames and moved into the final. There he met the reigning world number one Neil Robertson . After a weak start for the four-time world champion, the Australian took the lead 1-0, but then Higgins found better and better in the game and won the next four frames in a row with breaks of 60, 73, 118 and 82 points and thus secured his first Title for nine months.

The first full ranking tournament of the season was the Wuxi Classic , where a tournament system was introduced for the first time on the Main Tour. All professional players start in the first qualifying round - which is therefore now equivalent to a main round. This means that there is no longer any prominent position in the top 16 in the world rankings, which in the past represented an elite group that was automatically set for all ranked tournaments.

The qualifying round for the Wuxi Classic took place in Gloucester at the end of May , when John Higgins met Adam Wicheard , whom he defeated solidly 5-2. The main round in Wuxi , China, took place two weeks after the Bulgarian Open . There the Scot met in his first match against the Australian new professional Vinnie Calabrese, whom he clearly defeated 5: 1 - including a 116 -, where he was able to win the last five frames in a row. He then played against Dechawat Poomjaeng, the Thai who caused a sensation with his appearance at the last World Cup. Higgins again distanced this with 5: 1, but this time much more confidently and consistently with breaks of 138, 70, 55 and 75 points. In the third round, Higgins had little trouble with Xiao Guodong , as his opponent had a significantly higher error rate and so he managed a so-called "white wash" (5: 0) with only a few higher breaks. In his subsequent quarter-final game against Joe Perry , the all-rounder relied primarily on his good tactical play, thanks to which he retained the upper hand 5-2. In the semifinals, Higgins met Matthew Stevens and again benefited from his excellent all-round game and also from his strong breakbuilding, so that he was often able to win even tight frames, including a respotted black in frame 4. With breaks of 61, 57, 66 and 57 points pulled the "Wizard of Wishaw" 5: 0 before Stevens was able to reduce to 5: 2, but with a Century of 101 points Higgins made the victory perfect. Thus, in the final there was a re-edition of the final of the Bulgarian Open between world number one Neil Robertson and four-time world champion John Higgins. After the first session, the high-class match was still balanced, both players had managed a series of high breaks. At first the Scot had taken a 5-2 lead thanks to a series of 78, 56, 70, 93 and 82 points, but Robertson shortened to 4: 5 at the end of the session. Then the Australian pulled away to 8: 5. Although Higgins managed to shorten it to 6: 8 and then to 7: 9, Robertson could not be denied the victory and he won with 10: 7. This was Higgins' first defeat in a fully-fledged ranking tournament since the UK Championship in 2009 .

Then it was enough for a round of 16 at Rotterdam , the Bluebell Wood Open ended a round early and at the Paul Hunter Classic he failed 4-0 against Mark King in the opening match. With 0: 6 he lost in the special format of the 6-Red World Championship 2013 against Mark Davis, but before that he had sovereignly survived the group stage and reached the round of 16. Even after that, the round of 16 proved to be too high a hurdle. At the Shanghai Masters, the revenge against Mark Davis failed clearly with 1: 5. At the Indian Open it was Ding Junhui who threw him out of the tournament that same round.

At the PTC tournaments and the International Championship , he failed even earlier. At the Champion of Champions tournament, a reintroduced invitation tournament, there was a narrow opening defeat 3: 4 against Stephen Maguire , whom he faced for the third time this season and the third in the immediately following UK Championship in the round of 16 Times defeated.

Then he was invited to the Championship League and reached once the semi-finals and once the final of his group, but missed the finals. At the next invitation tournament, the Masters , he won against Stuart Bingham at the beginning and had reached a quarter-finals for a long time, where he was narrowly defeated by world number one Mark Selby in a contested decider with 5: 6. After the early retirement at the German Masters against Dominic Dale , he made it to the quarter-finals at a PTC tournament at the Gdynia Open , only to meet Maguire again and lose. At the Welsh Open he also reached the round of 8 after a 4-3 win over Judd Trump , where he then lost to Ronnie O'Sullivan. At the Haikou World Open , another narrow 5-4 victory over Trump brought him to the quarter-finals, where he lost to Northern Irishman Mark Allen. And at the PTC Grand Finals he was in a quarter -finals for the third time in a row, but here too his opponent Marco Fu prevailed. After the China Open , where he once again reached the round of 16, he was again among the top 10 in the provisional world rankings . At the final World Cup , however, there was an opening defeat. This setback meant that he was only able to defend his 11th place in the ranking after a mixed season.

2014/15 season

John Higgins at the 2014 Paul Hunter Classic

In the 2014/15 season there was even the threat of another crash. In the first tournaments he was eliminated in the second or third round, at the Australian Goldfields Open he was defeated in his first round of 16 of the season Robert Milkins . A respectable achievement was reaching the quarter-finals at the 6-Red World Championship in 2014 after defeating Stuart Bingham . In important tournaments like the Shanghai Masters and the International Championship he did not make it into the last 16, in Chengdu he lost 6 1: 6 in the second round against Li Hang , a player from the second half of the world rankings. It was not until the end of the year that he was able to stabilize somewhat at the UK Championship and the Lisbon Open with two round of 16 appearances and stop the downward trend. In Portugal he lost to Stephen Maguire for the seventh time in a row on the main tour.

He didn't start the new year so successfully at the Masters in London and the German Masters , but at the Welsh Open he reached the quarter-finals against Maguire and his first win over the compatriot since 2011 inspired him so much that he subsequently won the tournament. He took the momentum into the following tournaments and reached the round of 16 at the Gdynia Open and the Indian Open . After a minor slack, he achieved his second-best tournament result of the season in the quarter-finals at the China Open after another 5: 4 win against Judd Trump. His subsequent end against Ding Junhui was no less close with 4: 5. With a first round win at the World Cup against Robert Milkins, he was able to hold onto position 13 in the world rankings , which was his worst performance on the professional tour after the first two years.

2015/16 season

Almost two months later, Higgins had a very successful start to the new season. At the Australian Goldfields Open he reached the final and won there 9: 8 against Martin Gould . After that he did not do very well at the PTC tournaments and at the Shanghai Masters Gould took 5-3 revenge in the round of 16 for the final defeat in Bendigo, but at the International Championship he returned to the road to success. In the last sixteen he defeated Shaun Murphy 6: 0 and after a 6: 3 over Joe Perry and a 9: 4 against world number one Mark Selby, he was back in the final and won against David Gilbert after an even start in a convincing evening session with 10: 5 . The second success of the season was his 28th victory in a world ranking tournament. With the success at the tournament with the third largest prize, the Scot made it back into the top 8 of the world rankings .

Then he reached the quarter-finals for the first time in the third attempt at the Champion of Champions tournament, but then lost 5-6 to Joe Perry. At the UK Championship he also reached the quarter-finals and also started successfully with the 600th Century Break of his career. In the all-time statistics he was 3rd behind Hendry and Ronnie O'Sullivan and well ahead of his opponent in the quarter-final, Neil Robertson. The Australian was able to win the close match 6-5 and finally win the tournament.

The second half of the season was not that successful after that. As defending champion, he was eliminated from the Welsh Open in the round of 16 against local hero Michael White . Another Welshman, Ryan Day, finished advancing on the same lap at the Wales Grand Prix . At the China Open he made it to the semi-finals and was only barely defeated by Ricky Walden , who managed a century break in the decision-making frame. At the final World Cup he was able to successfully take revenge on Ryan Day and Walden and throw both out of the tournament. In the quarterfinals he then lost 11:13 to his compatriot Alan McManus. It was his most successful World Cup performance since winning the title five years earlier. At the end of the season he was again in the top 8 of the world rankings in 6th place after three years.

Season 2016/17

In the season 2016/17 John Higgins started the second round feeder in Riga Masters , where he lost to Judd Trump. At the World Open and the Shanghai Masters he failed to Ali Carter, once in the quarter-finals, the other time in the round of 16. At the new European Masters it was again Judd Trump who stopped him in the quarter-finals, and at the English Open that followed immediately the Englishman again defeated him for the third time in a row in the round of eight. Higgins continued to play at the same level and also reached the quarter-finals at the International Championship . Eventual finalist Ding Junhui ended his advancement. At the China Championship , which was also newly introduced as an invitation tournament , he then reached the final with a victory over Ali Carter and there defeated Stuart Bingham, second in the world. At the 2016 Champion of Champions he defeated Judd Trump, Ding Junhui and in the final Ronnie O'Sullivan and won his 48th title on the Main Tour.

At the Northern Ireland Open he reached the round of 16 after he had scored his 8th maximum break in round 2 . At the UK Championship he narrowly lost in the quarterfinals to reigning world champion Mark Selby. At his home tournament, the re-established Scottish Open , he again defeated O'Sullivan and Trump and only lost 4: 9 in the final against Marco Fu. As a result, he was in the top 3 in the world for the first time at the turn of the year.

The second half of the season began with a complete false start. The first three tournaments started with an opening defeat. A setback was the 2-4 defeat by Sam Baird at the Welsh Open , which he had won two years earlier. In the World Championship he met Mark Selby again in the final after 2007 and lost at 15:18. With this, John Higgins climbed back to second place in the world rankings at the end of the season.

Season 2017/18

At the beginning of the 2017/18 season he was invited to the Hong Kong Masters 2017 jubilee tournament , but was eliminated 4-5 by Ronnie O'Sullivan. The first highlight of the season for him was the Indian Open . In the final, he defeated last year's winner Anthony McGill 5-1 and won the 29th title of his career. He surpassed Steve Davis and O'Sullivan and only Stephen Hendry was ahead of him in the Main Tour statistics .

At the Shanghai Masters 2017 he was eliminated with 2: 6 after victories over Martin Gould , Liang Wenbo and others in the semifinals against Ronnie O'Sullivan .

In early January he scored three Century Breaks at the Masters, surpassing the 700 career centurys mark as the third player after Stephen Hendry and Ronnie O'Sullivan .

With the win at the Welsh Open 2018 , which he won 9: 7 against Barry Hawkins , he got his 30th victory in a world ranking tournament

At the 2018 Snooker World Championship , Higgins was able to defeat Thepchaiya Un-Nooh in the first round . In the second round he defeated Jack Lisowski 13-1 . In the subsequent quarter-finals he defeated Judd Trump with 13:12. Higgins made the second final in a row with a 17-13 win over Kyren Wilson . For the second time in a row he lost the final. After a 15:15 intermediate result, he was defeated by Mark Williams 16:18. In the world rankings he fell behind Williams to 4th place.

Tournament results and ranking positions

competition	1992/ 1993	1993/ 1994	1994/ 1995	1995/ 1996	1996/ 1997	1997/ 1998	1998/ 1999	1999/ 2000	2000/ 2001	2001/ 2002	2002/ 2003	2003/ 2004	2004/ 2005	2005/ 2006	2006/ 2007	2007/ 2008	2008/ 2009	2009/ 2010	2010/ 2011	2011/ 2012	2012/ 2013	2013/ 2014	2014/ 2015	2015/ 2016	2016/ 2017	2017/ 2018	2018/ 2019	2019/ 2020	Career S / N * 1
World snooker ranking	oR * 2	122	51	11	2	2	1	1	2	3	4th	4th	5	6th	4th	1	5	4th	1	2	5	11	13	6th	2	4th	4th	5
UK Championship	A.	A.	A.	HF	F.	2R	S.	HF	S.	VF	VF	2R	2R	3R	HF	1R	VF	F.	S.	2R	2R	4R	4R	VF	VF	4R	2R	VF	5/25
Masters	A.	A.	F.	1R	1R	1R	S.	1R	1R	1R	VF	HF	F.	S.	1R	1R	HF	1R	1R	HF	VF	VF	1R	VF	1R	HF	1R	VF	2 / 26th
World Snooker Championship	QR	QR	1R	VF	VF	S.	HF	HF	F.	VF	VF	2R	2R	1R	S.	2R	S.	2R	S.	2R	1R	1R	2R	VF	F.	F.	F.		4/25

Legend
S.	winner	F.	finalist
HF	Semi-finalist	VF	Quarter finalist
#R	Eliminated in an earlier round	QR	not qualified
A.	did not participate in the tournament

Remarks

• * ¹ wins / losses
• * ² new players on the Main Tour have no rank (= no rank)

Final results

Ranked tournament games: 50 (including 30 wins)

Legend (gew: verl) World Championships (4: 4) UK Championship (3: 2) other (23:14)

the numbers in brackets indicate the number of wins or defeats in the final (> 1)

space	No.	year	competition	Final opponent	Result
winner	1.	1994	Grand Prix	Dave Harold	9: 6
finalist	1.	1995	Welsh Open	Steve Davis	3: 9
winner	2.	1995	British Open	Ronnie O'Sullivan	9: 6
winner	3.	1995	International Open	Steve Davis	9: 5
finalist	2.	1995	Grand Prix	Stephen Hendry	5: 9
winner	4th	1995	German Open	Ken Doherty	9: 3
winner	5.	1996	International Open (2)	Rod Lawler	9: 3
finalist	3.	1996	British Open	Nigel Bond	8: 9
finalist	4th	1996	UK Championship	Stephen Hendry	9:10
winner	6th	1997	European Open	John Parrott	9: 5
finalist	5.	1997	Grand Prix (2)	Dominic Dale	6: 9
winner	7th	1997	German Open (2)	John Parrott	9: 4
finalist	6th	1998	Welsh Open (2)	Paul Hunter	5: 9
finalist	7th	1998	Scottish Open	Ronnie O'Sullivan	5: 9
winner	8th.	1998	British Open (2)	Stephen Hendry	9: 8
winner	9.	1998	World Snooker Championship	Ken Doherty	18:12
winner	10.	1998	UK Championship	Matthew Stevens	10: 6
winner	11.	1999	Grand Prix (2)	Mark Williams	9: 8
winner	12.	1999	China International	Billy Snaddon	9: 3
winner	13.	2000	Welsh Open	Stephen Lee	9: 8
winner	14th	2000	UK Championship (2)	Mark Williams	10: 4
finalist	8th.	2001	World Snooker Championship	Ronnie O'Sullivan	14:18
winner	15th	2001	British Open (3)	Graeme Dott	9: 6
finalist	9.	2003	Irish Masters	Ronnie O'Sullivan	9:10
finalist	10.	2003	LG Cup (3)	Mark Williams	5: 9
winner	16.	2004	British Open (4)	Stephen Maguire	9: 6
winner	17th	2005	Grand Prix (3)	Ronnie O'Sullivan	9: 2
finalist	11.	2006	Malta Cup (2)	Ken Doherty	8: 9
finalist	12.	2006	China Open	Mark Williams	8: 9
winner	18th	2007	World Snooker Championship (2)	Mark Selby	18:13
winner	19th	2008	Grand Prix (4)	Ryan Day	9: 7
finalist	13.	2009	China Open (2)	Peter Ebdon	8:10
winner	20th	2009	World Snooker Championship (3)	Shaun Murphy	18: 9
finalist	14th	2009	UK Championship (2)	Ding Junhui	8:10
winner	21st	2010	Welsh Open (2)	Allister Carter	9: 4
winner	22nd	2010	UK Championship (3)	Mark Williams	10: 9
winner	23.	2011	Welsh Open (3)	Stephen Maguire	9: 6
winner	24.	2011	World Snooker Championship (4)	Judd Trump	18:15
winner	25th	2012	Shanghai Masters	Judd Trump	10: 9
finalist	15th	2013	Wuxi Classic	Neil Robertson	7:10
winner	26th	2015	Welsh Open (4)	Ben Woollaston	9: 3
winner	27.	2015	Australian Goldfields Open	Martin Gould	9: 8
winner	28.	2015	International Championship	David Gilbert	10: 5
finalist	16.	2016	Scottish Open	Marco Fu	4: 9
finalist	17th	2017	World Snooker Championship	Mark Selby	15:18
winner	29	2017	Indian Open	Anthony McGill	5: 1
winner	30th	2018	Welsh Open (5)	Barry Hawkins	9: 7
finalist	18th	2018	World Snooker Championship	Mark Williams	16:18
finalist	19th	2018	China Championship	Mark Selby	9:10
finalist	20th	2019	World Snooker Championship	Judd Trump	9:18

Private

John Higgins is married and has two sons and a daughter with his wife, Denise. He is a passionate supporter of the Scottish football club Celtic Glasgow and a passionate cook. He also enjoys playing golf in his spare time.

Web links

Commons : John Higgins  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• John Higgins - Comprehensive information and game results (English)
• Player profile on World Snooker (English)
• John Higgins - 2007 World Snooker Champion
• Profile of John Higgins on CueTracker
• John Higgins in snooker Database (English)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b c} John Higgins. In: worldsnooker.com. World Professional Billiards & Snooker Association , January 11, 2015, accessed August 17, 2015 .  
2. ^ Career-total Statistics for John Higgins. Professional. In: CueTracker Snooker Results & Statistics Database. Ron Florax, accessed October 4, 2017 .  
3. ↑ 100+ Centuries. In: Snooker Info. Retrieved May 12, 2018 .  
4. ↑ Ranking Records: World Number One. Number One Players (updated 30/07/2018) :. WPBSA , accessed January 27, 2019 .  
5. ↑ Snooker World Cup: John Higgins plays the first maximum break in eight years - derStandard.de. Retrieved on August 9, 2020 (Austrian German). 
6. ↑ Nick Harris: Revealed: the tale behind the snooker sting that leaves Higgins in the fight of his life. In: Sporting Intelligence. May 3, 2010, accessed February 13, 2017 .  
7. ↑ Snooker professional Higgins banned on suspicion of manipulation. In: Spiegel online . May 2, 2010, accessed February 13, 2017 .  
8. ^ Rolf Kalb: Higgins' ban for six months. (No longer available online.) In: Yahoo Sports Blogs. July 30, 2011, archived from the original on February 14, 2017 ; accessed on February 13, 2017 .  
9. ↑ Nick Harris: REVEALED: Why John Higgins was cleared of match-fixing (because the evidence, including a statement from Mazher Mahmood, told the full story). In: Sporting Intelligence. September 21, 2010, accessed February 13, 2017 .  
10. ↑ Higgins Makes Maximum In Shanghai. (No longer available online.) In: worldsnooker.com. World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association , September 23, 2012, archived from the original on June 4, 2015 ; accessed on September 23, 2012 (English).  
11. ^ Higgins Fires UK maximum. (No longer available online.) In: worldsnooker.com. World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association , December 5, 2012, archived from the original on March 4, 2016 ; accessed on December 7, 2012 .  
12. ↑ 2013 Snooker Shootout. In: CueTracker Snooker Results & Statistics Database. Ron Florax, accessed August 29, 2015 .  
13. ^ Betfair German Masters. Betfair German Masters Qualifiers - Qual Round 2. In: snooker.org. Retrieved August 31, 2015 .  
14. ↑ BetVictor Welsh Open. In: snooker.org. Retrieved August 31, 2015 .  
15. ^ Bulgarian Open (ET1). (No longer available online.) World Professional Billiards & Snooker Association , archived from the original on February 23, 2014 ; accessed on February 13, 2017 (English).  
16. ↑ John Higgins has moved level with Steve Davis on 28 career titles. In: Sky Sports . November 1, 2015, accessed February 13, 2017 .  
17. ↑ Rolf Kalb: UK Championship: The 600th Century and two more hundreds are not enough for John Higgins. In: Eurosport . December 5, 2015, accessed February 13, 2017 .  
18. ↑ Northern Ireland Open: O'Sullivan too strong for White as Higgins hits 147. In: BBC Sport . November 16, 2016, accessed February 13, 2017 .  
19. ↑ Fine 29 As Higgins Wins Tartan Tussle. In: worldsnooker.com. World Professional Billiards & Snooker Association , September 16, 2017, accessed September 16, 2017 . 
20. ↑ Matches | World Snooker Live Scores. (No longer available online.) Archived from the original on November 19, 2017 ; Retrieved November 18, 2017 (UK English).