World Championship 2026: John Higgins battles back in semi-final with Shaun Murphy, Wu Yize leads Mark Allen

For most of Thursday afternoon, four-time champion Higgins appeared to still be feeling the effects of his late-night quarter-final victory over Neil Robertson.

Higgins, who turns 51 in May and is the oldest semi-finalist since Ray Reardon back in 1985, was still at the Crucible after midnight on Wednesday and it told as he failed to make a number of easy pots in an error-strewn showing.

However, not for the first time in the tournament, he exhibited all his resolve and granite matchplay qualities that makes him such a dangerous opponent.

Their best-of-33 encounter resumes on Friday at 10:00 BST.

England’s Murphy, who won the world title in 2005, looked in total control when he enjoyed runs of 68, 69 and 100 to move 3-1 ahead at the mid-session interval.

At that stage the world number eight appeared to be on the way to constructing a significant overnight advantage, but he too was guilty of several loose shots that allowed Higgins a route back in his 100th match at snooker’s most prestigious venue.

The Scot took two scrappy frames to get back to 3-3 and then responded again, with a 40 and a half-century in the final frame, to ensure he was not behind at the end of an opening session for the first time in this year’s tournament.

On Thursday evening the standard of break building was ratcheted up several gears, particularly by Wu.

The 22-year-old from China exhibited few signs of nerves on his bow at the single-table stage, settling immediately with breaks of 77 and 55 before Allen responded by almost making a century – despite being aware that something had gone amiss with the television coverage.

Though the Northern Irishman, who was also competing when protesters stopped play in 2023, did not enjoy as successful an evening this time around.

Allen, who is making his third appearance in the last four, was largely confined to his chair for the next three frames as Wu rattled in breaks of 57, 78 and 64.

And, when he missed a black off its spot in the final frame of the session, he was ruthlessly punished by a player that refuses very little and is increasingly looking like a future world champion in the making.