Ronnie O'Sullivan 'has earned right' to withdraw from World Snooker Championship – great rival makes his case

 

John Higgins believes Ronnie O'Sullivan has earned the right to make his decision late

Ronnie O'Sullivan has earned the right to withdraw from snooker's World Championship at the 11th hour, according to long-time rival John Higgins.

The duo, along with Welshman Mark Williams, were part of snooker's iconic Class of 92 - and Higgins hopes that the Rocket is given space to make his own decision about competing in Sheffield, having not played competitively since early January at the Championship League.

Speaking after setting up a semi-final clash with Barry Hawkins at the Tour Championship, Higgins told SportsBoom: "Obviously, nobody really knows. It’s been a well-kept secret.

"With how he’s feeling, who knows if he’s going to turn up or not, it’s going to be his decision. He’s earned that right, hasn’t he? So, we just have to wait and see."

O'Sullivan had previously said to TNT Sports that he hasn’t yet decided if he’ll compete in Sheffield, with his decision potentially coming as late as April 18 - the day before World Championship action begins.

He said: "I haven't made my mind up; I'll probably make a decision on maybe April 17 or 18. I'd love to be able to go there and play, I'd love to be able to have the confidence to be able to get my cue out and go and play snooker.

“I just need to give myself as much time as possible to see where I'm at with it and see whether it's something I'm going to be able to do."

Higgins meanwhile defeated Xiao Guodong 10-3 in an impressive showing that included a tournament high break of 137, and the veteran - who turns 50 later this month - was upbeat about his performance.

He said: "It was good. He had a couple of chances but didn’t really take them. I played very well to get 9-3, and he didn’t get anything going really. Maybe he made a little bit easy for me, but I’m still happy with how I’m hitting the ball.

"He played well at the start against me at the Players Championship, but he tailed off again a bit then. Maybe that still lingered in his mind and went into this game."

Higgins' performance also earned plaudits from pundits, with Scots great Stephen Hendry saying: "John is always going to be comfortable playing in long, double session, matches. He's coming pretty close to playing at his best and got stronger as the match went on."

Alan McManus added: "I like the things he's working on. He's divulged them to me, they are coming together very nicely at the right time."