Double joy for Celtic fan John Higgins as Rangers and Jack Lisowski are thrashed
- From the section Snooker
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John Higgins took time out from his World Championship thrashing of Jack Lisowski to watch his beloved Celtic "maul" Rangers to secure another title.
Leading 8-0 from the first session, the four-time world champion was due on table on Sunday afternoon, shortly after Celtic hosted their city rivals.
"I went over this morning at 10 o'clock for a practice as I didn't want to disrupt my routine," Higgins said.
"And then I quickly got back to my apartment to watch the mauling."
Higgins was "enjoying myself" and wrapped up a satisfying day with a 13-1 win over the 26-year-old to secure a quarter-final against another Englishman.
Ricky Walden or fourth seed Judd Trump lie 4-4 after their first session.
"Over the moon to beat someone like Jack 13-1," Higgins told BBC Scotland. "I played him last month out in China and he pretty much destroyed me 6-2.
"So I knew how tough a game it probably should have been."
Higgins believes the pressure of playing at the Crucible had crushed his opponent in that first-session whitewash.
"It just totally destroys you and it's happened to me many times here," he said.
"And he just had one of those sessions where he couldn't do anything right and luckily for me, I managed to take advantage of it."
Higgins was one black away from a 147 maximum break in the second last frame.
"I ran out of position with about four reds left to get the maximum," he said.
"It was still a great break - 146 is my biggest break here - and I got a great ovation from the crowd.
"There's a lot of money - £10,000 for the highest break - and it is only a 147 that could beat it, but there could still be a 147 in the rest of the tournament."
Higgins said he was benefitting from warm-up sessions with compatriot Anthony McGill, who also reached the second round.
"I was just practising quite hard before coming down here, me and Anthony McGill - we were playing the best of 19 every day," he revealed.
"We did it nine days solid before we came down, so we've put the practice in for it and I'm just hoping it can stand me in good stead for the rest of the tournament."
Higgins is the only former world champion to have reached the quarter-finals, although seventh-seed Mark Williams is in a great position as he holds a 10-6 lead over Robert Milkins.
"There's obviously a lot of big names who have went out early one and none bigger than Mark Selby, who's won it three out of the last four years," the Scot said.
"That was a bit of a shock losing him so early and then obviously the favourite, Ronnie O'Sullivan, went out yesterday to Ali Carter.
"But the players who are left in obviously still know we've got a mountain to climb because they are still world-class players that are left in and you have to play amazing to win the event."
