Higgins becomes first man to qualify for play-offs - 12/11/2009

JOHN Higgins has become the first man to qualify for the semi-finals of the 2009 PartyCasino.com Premier League Snooker competition.

Higgins claimed his place in the final four with a 4-2 victory over Judd Trump at the Hutton Moor Leisure Centre in Weston-Super-Mare in the ninth round of matches. Trump still has a chance of joining Higgins in the semi-finals but needs to get a good result against Shaun Murphy next week in Llandudno.

"In the second frame I missed an easy one to go 2-0 and Judd made a fantastic break to take the frame," said Higgins. "But Judd should've gone 3-1 up when he missed a long blue and he is such a good long potter. It was good to get through and I can now sit back and watch the others sweat it out. But I still have to play Ronnie O'Sullivan next week and I'll be trying my best to knock him out as when he gets to the semi-finals and final that's when he is unstoppable."

John Higgins on his way to victory over Judd Trump. Picture: Lawrence Lustig

Before the match, both Higgins and Trump were lying on six points and the first to reach three frames in this match would be guaranteed a top-four finish and a place in the semi-finals.

Higgins, the current World Champion, won a scrappy, disjointed opener by 57-35 with neither player making a break of more than 29.

It should have gone 2-0 as a loose safety by Trump saw the reds well positioned for a sizeable break. Higgins made 63 but faultered when he only needed one red and a colour for the frame.

Trump then compiled one of the best breaks of the Premier League season to snatch the frame. He had underhit his shot going from the yellow to the green but recovered well with a superb pot on the green en-route to tying up the match at 1-1.

It was a scrappy contest with both players making a number of errors. Higgins let slip a 24-point lead in the third and some great cueing late in the frame to pot tricky brown and blues helped Trump move in the lead.

The fourth frame was one of the longest in this year's competition. Higgins moved 53 ahead before it became a safety battle with both players commiting a number of fouls. Higgins missed his attempt to get out of a snooker six successive times but it did not matter as a missed pot on the blue from Trump saw him lose a high-scoring frame by 79-88.

That blue proved to be the turning point of the match as breaks of 74 and 75 saw Higgins claim the last two frames for a 4-2 victory.

John Higgins 4-2 Judd Trump (best of 6)
57-35, 63-65 (Higgins 63, Trump 65), 40-65, 88-79 (Higgins 53), 78-5 (Higgins 74), 107-1 (Higgins 32, 75)