Sheffield (Agencies): Four-time champion John Higgins claimed a comfortable 13-7 win over Noppon Saengkham to move into the quarter-finals of the World Championship.
Resuming at 11-5 up, the Scot won the first frame of the day on the black after a break of 62 to extend his lead.
However, Thailand’s Saengkham responded with breaks of 70 and 112 before the Scot sealed his win with a run of 90.
Higgins will face Neil Robertson or Jack Lisowski in the last eight on Tuesday.
Australia’s Robertson, who won the title in 2010 and arrived in Sheffield as the tournament favourite, currently trails his English opponent 9-7, with their second-round meeting set to conclude on Monday evening.
Meanwhile, Stuart Bingham also advanced with a 13-9 win over fellow Englishman Kyren Wilson.
The 2015 champion made breaks of 97, 76 and 52 as he won the first four frames of Monday afternoon’s session.
Wilson made a composed clearance of 33 to reduce the deficit, but then a missed red to the bottom right corner allowed Bingham back to the table to clinch victory.
Bingham will play Anthony McGill or 2019 winner Judd Trump on Tuesday, with the Englishman taking a 10-6 lead into Monday evening’s final session.
Saengkham close to consolation 147
Having won seven frames out of eight on Sunday evening, Higgins was always a strong favourite to wrap up victory against Saengkham.
The Scot, who last won the title in 2011, has appeared in five finals this season, losing in all of them and appears determined to end the season on a high note.
To his credit, world number 38 Saengkham rallied and almost provided the highlight of the afternoon, breaking down on the final red in his pursuit of a maximum 147 break, with the Crucible crowd and Higgins willing him on.
“I’d have loved him to get it. You could see how fired up he was and I really thought he was going to do it. He landed well on the last red but just missed it,” Higgins said.
“Last night was massive for me – winning that session 7-1, you have one foot in the quarter-final really. To win quite quickly was very pleasing.”
