The Masters - World champion in quarter-finals

Higgins books a place in the next round

Current world champion, John Higgins beat the Welshman Matthew Stevens 6-2 in the opening match of the third day of the Masters. 

Although Higgins was clearly not at his best, he knew when to take advantage of Stevens' mistakes and make the most of them.

Scotland's Higgins hasn't been very fond of the Masters tournament although he has won the event twice. Somehow the location from Wembley got to him and he felt a bit overwhelmed. But this year the competition has been moved to Ally Pally and it seems like the spell was broken.

Higgins opened the match with a beautiful 90 break, to which Stevens responded with runs of 45 and 30 in the very next frame to draw level. Still, the interval was going to find the Scotsman in charge of the match's faith, breaks of 60 and 40 giving him a 3-1 advantage.

As we all know the "Welsh Dragon" is never giving up, so after the 15-minute break Steven fought back with a steady 65 break to reduce the gap at just one point. Sadly for him, that was the closest he can get of his opponent.

A few mistakes here and there and Stevens is out

The 6^th frame was going to be won with a top break of 44 by "The Wizard of Wishaw", while the following ones were cashed with a series of 69, 30 and 32. The match was over and Higgins won it by 6-2.

In all to honesty it wasn't a spectacular match and clearly Higgins hasn't quite reached the form he showed off last season. However, he did show an improved cue style from what we’ve seen this season. Believe it or not, this is Scotsman's first win at the Masters since 2009.

The day continues with another world champion (the 2010 one), Neil Robertson taking on Mark Allen, from 7pm (UK time). Don't miss it, for it should be a cracker!