John Higgins v David Gilbert live stream | Scottish Open 2021 preview
Higgins and Gilbert lock horns in Llandudno (Nigel French/PA Archive/PA Images)
John Higgins is seeking his seventh straight victory over David Gilbert when they clash in the Scottish Open quarter-finals on Friday.
Two of the season’s form players go head to head at Venue Cymru for the right to face Ronnie O’Sullivan in the last four.
Runner-up in three tournaments already this season, Higgins will be hoping to finally get his hands on silverware in Llandudno this week.
The four-time World champion has only dropped four frames so far as he targets a third Scottish Open semi-final.
The Wizard, who reached the 2016 final, has won 11 of his 13 previous meetings with Gilbert, and each of the last six.
Two of those victories came in the 2015 International Championship showpiece and 2019 World Championship semi-final – in which he recovered from 13-9 down to prevail a dramatic 17-16 winner.
The Angry Farmer was also beaten 5-3 in the Northern Ireland Open quarter-finals two months ago, but shall look to stop the rot here.
Gilbert is seeking a second Scottish Open semi-final, with his previous such appearance coming in 2019.
The world number 20 dropped three frames in as many matches, before demonstrating tremendous determination to beat Judd Trump on the final black in round four – despite being pegged back to 3-3 from 3-0 up.
Gilbert subsequently became only the seventh player to deny Trump over the best of seven frames in Home Nations events – and first to do so at this tournament.
Having already captured the Championship League in August, this marks his third quarter-final appearance during an impressive campaign thus far.
Play gets underway at 7pm GMT on Friday with the best of nine frames determining who will progress to play O’Sullivan at Venue Cymru in Llandudno.