Steve Davis in disbelief as BBC snooker star responds to John Higgins dig
We are now approaching the business end of the World Snooker Championship, with the players preparing themselves for the quarter-finals of the prestigious event in Sheffield
The World Snooker Championship at the iconic Crucible Theatre has reached its midpoint, and it's been nothing short of spellbinding. Kyren Wilson was the latest defending champion to succumb to the infamous 'Crucible Curse', crashing out in the first round to rookie Lei Peifan.
Chris Wakelin also bested Mark Allen in their second-round match, despite the Northern Irishman managing a phenomenal 147 break on Friday. In doing so, Wakelin, along with Zhao Xintong, John Higgins and Mark Williams, punched his ticket to the quarter-finals.
And as we await the conclusion of four more second-round matches, including Ronnie O’Sullivan vs Pang Junxu and Judd Trump vs Shaun Murphy, we bring you a round-up of the latest news from Sheffield.
John Parrott sees funny side of John Higgins dig
John Parrott couldn't help but laugh at a comment made by renowned Celtic fan John Higgins after he managed to scrape through the second round against Xiao Guodong. Celebrating Celtic's Scottish Premiership title victory on Saturday - the same day when Higgins narrowly edged out a win in the snooker marathon with a 13-12 finish - he took a cheeky swipe at rivals Rangers.
In a post-match interview with Hazel Irvine, where she mentioned how he'd had quite the day, Higgins quipped: "I think that's erm, what it is that, 54 titles ahead of our rivals."
Parrott was then heard laughing in the background, before saying: “I like that dig. You couldn’t resist it could you!”. Irvine, seemingly not catching on to the jibe right away, responded with: "Not that you can't count! 55 I'm hearing, but you'll take it!". Higgins had also taken a cheeky swipe at Rangers legend Ally McCoist earlier that day.
Judd Trump’s warning to Shaun Murphy
Meanwhile, Trump had some bold words for Murphy ahead of their highly anticipated match. The World No. 1 claimed he was in The Magician’s “mind”, having got the better of his rival by winning each of their last seven match-ups. He explained: "I think there’s players recently I’ve had great records against. John Higgins, Mark Selby as well in ranking events, I’ve not lost for I don’t even know how long, but a long time.
“There’s certain players I feel comfortable playing and Shaun is one of them but I’ve also lost many times to him in the past. In the back of your head you think the more times you beat someone, the law of averages eventually you’re going to lose. So there’s that on the other hand.
“For me it’s just about going out there and if I can get in front, get off to quick starts, put the long balls in then it puts Shaun under a lot of pressure because he knows what I’m capable of in those few games we’ve played this season.” Trump did say, however, that he holds great respect for Murphy, whose performance in the first game he described as “superb”.
Steve Davis hails star as “jaw-dropping”
Snooker legend Steve Davis has hailed Luca Brecel as the "most jaw-dropping player" in the World Snooker Championship following his extraordinary performance against Ding Junhui on Saturday. The 2023 world champion earned a standing ovation at the Crucible for his exceptional play, which handed him a dominant 7-1 lead over Ding.
Despite Ding kicking off with an impressive 141 break, Brecel's aggressive playing style left him in a comfortable position before progressing. Six-time world champion Davis said on commentary for the BBC: “We all have our favourites. But this is the most jaw-dropping player in the game, for me. He is astonishing. It’s just ridiculous isn’t it. The crowd absolutely loving it. You’ve just got to take your hat off to this performance.
“We’ve seen some great performances at the Crucible. The performance Luca put in to beat Mark Selby in the final two years ago was astonishing. But as a single session of snooker this is as jaw-dropping as I’ve ever seen. And he’s done this to one of the greatest players that’s ever held a cue, Ding Junhui. Incredible stuff.”