John Higgins clinches victory over Barry Hawkins to reach final

Higgins made his sixth career final at the Crucible after dominating an error-prone Hawkins, who between winning the first and last frames of the morning session was punished by the Wizard of Wishaw.

Hawkins actually won the first frame but was then subjected to a dominant display from Higgins, who needed only one frame when the pair resumed at 7pm to set up a meeting with Mark Selby.

Resuming at 10-6 up, The Scot lost the first frame of the session as Hawkins built a 69 break but fought back amid some tense snooker to take the next two frames.

Higgins added the third of four when Hawkins needed two snookers and then missed a red to make his task even harder, with the frame being conceded.

Higgins’ dominance continued as he wrapped up the next three frames as well, with Hawkins struggling to build breaks during his visits to the table. In the penultimate frame of the morning, Higgins supplied the second biggest break of the match with an impressive 90.

The last frame of the session opened with a moment which encapsulated Hawkins' frustration, as he nailed a plant, only to see the white go in. But Higgins was also struggling as he accidentally potted the green when needing a snooker, and Hawkins held on to keep his challenge alive - if only in theory.

Higgins needed just one frame of the evening session to secure his path to the final, with a century break of 120 firing him to a 128-12 win.

93-28 (63), 69-22, 67-19 (59), 75-59 (Higgins 69, Hawkins 59), 30-100 (62), 30-95 (71), 65-25, 39-74 (74), 40-65, 92-6, 73-16 (51), 0-125 (115), 61-24 (53), 18-91, 89-0 (89), 73-45, 8-76 (69), 70-41, 55-47, 70-13, 65-62, 70-0, 96-4 (90), 48-80 (58), 128-12 (120)

Centuries: Two