LONDON: English cueist Jack Lisowski stunned two-time champions, John Higgins, 6-3 in the first round of the ongoing Masters 2023 to storm through to the quarter-finals.
Lisowski, who had not won a match in the tournament before, fired all cylinders to make his maiden victory in the championship a big one as he downed former World Champion Higgins 6-3 in the Best of 11.
Lisowski made his intentions clear by sailing through in the first two opening frames as he dominated the Scottish legend by 68-40 and 89-5.
Higgins, however, made an astounding comeback in the match by completely outclassing Lisowski with the highest break of 142 to cut the latter’s lead by 2-1 but only for Lisowski to display alike performance in the fourth frame to restore his two-frame lead.
The two-time champion Higgins once again responded by winning the next frame but Lisowski soon moved one frame within the triumph by claiming two frames in a row.
Higgins again attempted to script a comeback by winning the eighth frame with 70-31 but Lisowski, fuelled with momentum seemed unaffected by it and dominated the former in the ninth frame with a century break to claim a historic victory.
Following his astonishing victory over Higgins, Lisowski now faces Iranian trailblazer Hossein Vafaei in the third quarter-final.
Meanwhile, in another round-one match, reigning World Champion Ronnie O’Sullivan thrashed rookie Luca Brecel to book his spot in the last eight.
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