O'Sullivan edges Higginson

O'Sullivan needs to string together some wins in Berlin and the Welsh Open later this month to retain his place in the world's top 16.

Slipping outside of the game's elite would force him to qualify for the World Championship at Sheffield's Crucible Theatre in April. For the early part of his match with Higginson, O'Sullivan's demise seemed certain.

Without doing too much wrong, he seemed likely to suffer his first whitewash since James Wattana drubbed him 5-0 at the 2006 China Open as Higginson raced out to a 4-0 lead with O'Sullivan being allowed very little table time in the last 32 contest.

Breaks of 67 and 80 handed Higginson a 2-0 lead before he dominated the third frame to move 3-0 clear with O'Sullivan scoring only seven points in three frames.

O'Sullivan missed a tricky blue to a middle bag with the scoreboard showing the wrong score in the arena in the fourth frame before Higginson sunk pink and black to pinch a frame for a seemingly unassailable 4-0 advantage.

A break of 86 helped O'Sullivan stave off the whitewash, but he seemed done for when Higginson pieced together an imperious break of 63 only to snooker himself on a red behind the green in baulk that would have provided the gateway to a 5-1 win.

O'Sullivan held his nerve as a swashbuckling clearance of 67 handed him the frame by four points before a 60 dragged him back to only 4-3 behind. With the tension palpable, Higginson seemed likely to scramble over the winning line for a 5-3 victory only to somehow miss a basic black that enabled the three-time world champion O'Sullivan to piece together 66 to force the deciding frame.

O'Sullivan opened with 56 before missing a tricky red while going for a maximum. Higginson returned to the table facing his last chance to escape, but missing a longish red on 20 signalled the end as his opponent mopped up with a run of 48.

The large crowd in the Tempodrom roared their approval after a breathtaking match with O'Sullivan exiting the arena in as much style as he had played the final five frames. O'Sullivan will face Joe Perry in the last 16 on Friday afternoon after Perry completed a 5-4 win over Ali Carter, whose 129 in the sixth frame is the highest break of the tournament so far.

In a match of some quality, Perry made 94, 71 and 102 with Carter contributing other knocks of 56, 89 and 86.

The world number one Mark Selby - who enjoyed breaks of 67, 104, 56 and 111 - set up a last 16 meeting with Graeme Dott after a 5-0 win over Liu Song while Matthew Stevens will face Neil Robertson after a 5-1 win over Craig Steadman.

Dott was in decent form in a 5-0 win over James Wattana as the 2006 world champion compiled breaks of 59, 47, 56, 66 and 51 to progress.

Ding Junhui was not so fortunate as he was bundled out in the first round by compatriot Yu Delu 5-3.

China's Ding - twice a UK champion - could find little in the way of consistency as Yu moved 3-0 clear with a break of 68 in frame two his highest knock of the match.

Ding produced a run of 79 to trail 3-1 at the mid-session interval only to continue to be left hamstrung by some astonishing errors in falling 4-1 behind.

Yu squandered further chances to finish off Ding in the sixth and seventh frames as his opponent rallied to close to 4-3 behind, but another poor miss on a black proved fatal as Yu held himself together with closing efforts of 43 and 56 enough to complete a 5-3 win that was more comfortable than it sounded.

Yu - the world number 73 - will face Stephen Lee in the last 16.

Mark Allen also reached the last 16 by winning four straight frames to oust Tom Ford 5-4 while there was a comfortable win for Judd Trump. Allen faces Trump for a spot in the quarter-finals later on Thursday.

Trump overcame Paul Davison, enjoying runs of 50, 75, 60 and 81 in easing through.

Allen needed a snooker in the final frame against Ford having recovered from 4-1 behind, but a couple of telling snookers brought Allen the points he needed before the Northern Irishman cleared to the pink to eliminate his dazed opponent, who made 43 in the final frame before conceding 19 points in fouls.

Ford had produced runs of 89, 100 and 69 to open up his advantage, but Allen recovered courtesy of 53, 43, 73 and a 52.

Masters champion Robertson shook off a virus that kept him out of the shoot-out at Blackpool last week to oust Marcus Campell 5-2. In a stodgy affair lasting almost three hours, Robertson prevailed by winning the final four frames despite overseeing a highest break of only 49.