Higgins becomes the fourth man in the play-offs - 22/11/2007

Glenrothes
John Higgins 3-3 Steve Davis
Higgins' scores first
79-16 (Higgins 30), 60-15 (Higgins 60), 79-12 (Higgins 38), 1-69 (Davis 68), 28-81, 33-74 (Davis 70)

JOHN Higgins has become the final player to reach the play-offs of the 2007 PartyBets.com Premier League season.

Higgins joins Ding Junhui, Stephen Hendry and Ronnie O'Sullivan in the semi-finals, which take place on Saturday, December 1 at the AECC in Aberdeen.

The opening match will be between Ding and Higgins, while Hendry and O'Sullivan will meet in the second one.

This was a winner-takes-all situation with both Higgins and Steve Davis still harbouring hopes of finishing in the top four.

The victor from this match would meet Ding Junhui in the first play-off on December 1. Higgins though would still qualify if this match ended in a 3-3 draw as, before this match, he had one more point than Davis.

Frame one was a scrappy encounter but Higgins finally edged 73 ahead. Davis needed six snookers but still returned to the table to get some potting practice but that did not last long and it was 1-0 to the Scot.

A break of 60 in the second doubled Higgins' lead and meant Davis would have to win the remaining four frames to stay in the competition.

Higgins accumulated totals of 27 and 38 saw him complete the job and guarantee his place in the final four.

But there was still a £1,000 for each frame won and Davis made sure he made some money from the evening by claiming the fourth with his first half century break of the match.

Although unable to progress, Davis then won his second successive frame, by a score of 28-81. A break of 70 helped Davis to a 3-3 draw but it was too little, too late.