White Night At The Welsh Open As Higgins Beaten

Michael White is carrying the Welsh flag into the quarter-finals of the Welsh Open at the Cardiff Motorpoint Arena.

The 24-year-old from Neath pulled off a stunning 4-1 victory over defending champion John Higgins to become the only Welshman into the last eight.

Earlier in the day, former world champion Mark Williams lost 4-2 to world No.1 Mark Selby but White belied his position as world No.17 to dump out Higgins.

White compiled breaks of 90, 64 and 67 to leave world No.7 Higgins with no route back to defending his title.

“It’s a fantastic win, one of the best of my career,” said White after setting up a tie with Mark Allen for a place in the semi-finals.

“I’ve just been very laid back and I think that showed in my performance. I didn’t really show signs of any nerves.

“My phone is going berserk, and that was before today so I’m a bit scared of turning it on! My mum and a couple of friends have come up to watch me and obviously they are over the moon. It’s good for Wales, good for the tournament.”

Selby will go head to head with Ronnie O’Sullivan in the quarter-finals after showing his class in a 4-2 win over Williams, highlighted by breaks of 90, 128 and 115.

It was White, though, who stole the show to earn glowing praise from five-times world champion O’Sullivan.

“Michael White is definitely top eight, knocking on the door and if he won the world title this year I wouldn’t be surprised,” said O’Sullivan.

“I really like him as a person and I don’t think you can deny the talent he has, the snooker brain he has and the most important thing, he has bottle.

“He has all the ingredients to be a definite world champion and I love his attitude. He has a love and an enthusiasm for the game and we’re talking about a possible multiple world champion.  He is going to win big. He has to.”