Higgins steals a point from defending champ Ronnie - 11/09/2008

DEFENDING Champion Ronnie O’Sullivan got his defence of the 2008 PartyPoker.com Premier League Snooker underway with a hard-fought draw against Scotland’s John Higgins at the Grimsby Auditorium.

John Higgins

It was a high quality encounter with both players performing well and Higgins opened the scoring as he edged the first rack on a re-spotted black. A fine break of 83 increased the Scotsman’s lead to 2-0 before a run of 72 reduced the deficit for O’Sullivan.

Another 80-plus break, this time from the World No.1, squared things up at 2-2 before O’Sullivan moved into the lead for the first time and guaranteed a point as he took a hard fought fifth frame.

Higgins was not to be denied though as he compiled a break of 74 to level things up at 3-3 and share the points.

"That was a point gained for me as I was 3 -2 behind," said Higgins. "You've got to raise your game against Ronnie as he never misses. You only get in off a bad safety and whenever you leave him a chance it’s game over.

"I've not played in the Premier League for a few years, and last year I realized I missed it. It’s a great tournament and everyone’s a great player so you just do your best," he added.

O’Sullivan said: "It's a point and at the end of the day I’m not disappointed so we both got out of jail.

"It was nice to rack up a century and it’s nice to get the extra money. I just get on with it and hopefully I’ll make the semis and go from there."

Ronnie O'Sullivan 3-3 John Higgins
O'Sullivan's scores first
63-70 (O'Sullivan 62), 1–91 (Higgins 83), 98-0 (O'Sullivan 72), 85-0 (O'Sullivan (85), 67-42 (O'Sullivan 46), 0-74 (Higgins 74).