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Andrew Higginson

Higginson in 2012
Born	(1977-12-13)13 December 1977 (age 47) Widnes,Cheshire, England
Sport country	England
Nickname	The Widnes Warrior[1]
Professional	1996–1999, 2000–2004, 2006–2022, 2023–2025
Highestranking	18 (October–November 2011 and May–July 2012)[2][3][4][5]
Maximum breaks	1
Century breaks	161 (as of 23 November 2025)
Best ranking finish	Runner-up (2007 Welsh Open)
Tournament wins
Minor-ranking	1

Andrew Higginson (born 13 December 1977) is an English former professionalsnooker player fromWidnes,Cheshire. He is best known for being the surprise finalist of the2007 Welsh Open.

After some success in amateur tournaments, Higginson turned professional for the 2000/2001 season after finishing third on the Challenge Tour. He remained there for five seasons before dropping off, after encountering limited success. He won a place back on the tour for 2006/2007 after finishing second on the Pontins'International Open Series.

Higginson reached the televised stages of a ranking tournament for the first time at the2007 Malta Cup, where he beatSteve Davis 5–4 before losing 2–5 toKen Doherty at the last 16. At the very next tournament, the2007 Welsh Open, Higginson hit an extraordinary run of form, defeatingMarco Fu 5–2,John Higgins 5–3 (from 0–3 down),Michael Judge 5–1,Ali Carter 5–1 (making his first professional147 break^[6] in the process) andStephen Maguire 6–3 to reach the final. As he had spent the2005–06 season on the secondary Challenge Tour, he was the first unranked player to reach a ranking final sinceTerry Griffiths won the World title in 1979. At the end of the first session of the final, he trailed 2–6 toNeil Robertson. In the second session, Higginson managed to take the lead and change the score to 8–6, but Robertson recovered to level the scores at 8–8 and force a deciding frame, which he won.^[7] Higginson earned £20,000 for his 147 break, £2000 for the highest break and £17,500 for being the runner-up.

Despite his good season, Higginson failed to qualify for the2007 World Championship, losing 9–10 toRicky Walden in the third qualifying round. His performance in the Welsh Open and Malta Cup brought him to 44th in the2007/2008 rankings, and 24th on the one-year list.

The following season proved tougher, with Higginson only qualifying for one event – the2008 Welsh Open again.^[8]

However, he qualified for the2008 Grand Prix, losing 0–5 toMark Selby in the last 32.^[9] He then beatJamie Jones andMichael Judge to make his Crucible debut in the2009 World Championship,^[10] giving eventual finalistShaun Murphy a test, leading 7–6^[11] before losing 8–10.^[12]

Higginson won his first professional title during the2011–12 season at the minor-rankingPlayers Tour Championship Event 5, where he beat reigning world championJohn Higgins 4–1 in the final.^[13] He played in all 12 of the PTC events and finished 6th on theOrder of Merit, comfortably inside the top 24 who qualified for theFinals.^[14] At the Finals he beatJamie Jones andXiao Guodong, before losing toStephen Lee 2–4 in the semi-finals.^[15]

He qualified for all but three of the other ranking events during the season.^[15] In theGerman Masters he ledRonnie O'Sullivan 4–0 in their best-of-nine frames first round match, before being defeated 5–4 having missed a pot in the sixth frame that would have left O'Sullivan requiring snookers to stay in the tournament.^[16] He finished the season by reaching the last 16 of theWorld Championship after defeatingStephen Lee 10–6 in the first round.^[15] There he trailed Jamie Jones 6–10 after two sessions, but rallied to level at 10–10, before Jones won three successive frames to take the match 13–10.^[17] Higginson finished the season ranked world number 18, meaning he had climbed 7 places during the year.^[18]

Due to non-entries among the top 16 players, Higginson was automatically seeded into the venue stages of first two major ranking events of the2012–13 season,Wuxi Classic andAustralian Open, only to be beaten on both occasions byRobert Milkins andRyan Day respectively. He was then whitewashed bySteve Davis in the qualifying forShanghai Masters, making it three consecutive first round defeats for him. Higginson broke the streak by beatingDavid Gilbert to reach the main draw of theInternational Championship, but was beaten 0–6 byShaun Murphy in the first round at the venue inChengdu, China.^[19] He suffered yet another whitewash inUK Championship qualifying, losing 0–6 toLiang Wenbo, and as a result fell to No. 29 in the world rankings. Higginson enjoyed more success in the minor-rankingPlayers Tour Championship events, reaching the semi-finals inEvent One^[20] andEuropean Tour Event Five;^[21] in the latter tournament he lost 3–4 toAnthony McGill on a respotted black, despite having been 3–1 ahead at one point and his opponent having needed two snookers in the decider. Higginson went on to finish 13th on the PTC Order of Merit to qualify for the Grand Final for the third year in a row.

Higginson's form improved in the second half of the season as he qualified for five of the six remaining ranking tournaments of the season. His best results were last 16 appearances at theGerman Masters and theWelsh Open: in Germany he beatStuart Bingham 5–1 before losing by the same scoreline toNeil Robertson, and in Wales he beatMichael Wasley 4–2 before losing 1–4 toJudd Trump.^[19] At thePTC Finals Higginson was leading eventual tournament winnerDing Junhui 3–1 in the first round, before losing 3–4.^[22] His season however ended in disappointment as he was beaten 4–10 byMichael White in the final round ofWorld Championship Qualifying, to finish it ranked world number 22.^[23][24]

Higginson beatSteve Davis 5–1 in the first round of the2013 Wuxi Classic, before losing 5–2 againstPeter Lines.^[25] He was defeated in the qualifying round for theAustralian Goldfields Open and, despite another win over Davis to qualify, was beaten 5–4 in the wildcard round of theShanghai Masters by Lin Shuai. Higginson exited theIndian Open in the last 32 and theUK Championship in the last 64.^[25] Higginson won two matches in a ranking event for the only time this season at theWelsh Open with victories overMartin O'Donnell andJimmy Robertson, beforeScott Donaldson came from 3–2 down to eliminate him 4–3.^[26] Higginson had a very poor season in the eightEuropean Tour events as his best finishes were four last 64 defeats to be placed a lowly 79th on theOrder of Merit.^[27] He came within a match of qualifying for theWorld Championship, but lost 10–6 toDominic Dale.^[28] Higginson fell 14 places and outside the top 32 in the rankings during they year to end it 36th in the world.^[29]

At theAustralian Goldfields Open, Higginson was defeated 5–2 by home favouriteNeil Robertson in the first round. He won three games to qualify for theShanghai Masters, but was knocked out in the opening round 5–3 byMark Allen. A further first round exit followed in theInternational Championship at the hands ofJoe Swail, before Higginson won his first match at the venue stage of a ranking event this season by beatingTian Pengfei 6–3 at theUK Championship. He was eliminated in the second round 6–4 byJames Cahill.^[30] Higginson qualified for theChina Open, but lost 5–3 toJudd Trump in the first round.^[31] He reached the final qualifying round for theWorld Championship thanks to wins overScott Donaldson andLuca Brecel, and forced a deciding frame from 9–6 againstRobert Milkins which he lost. The defeat meant that Higginson has failed to advance beyond the last 32 of any ranking event in over two years.^[32] His decline in the rankings continued as he ended the season 48th in the world.^[33]

After winning three matches to qualify for theAustralian Goldfields Open, Higginson lost 5–3 toRicky Walden in the first round and he was knocked out in the same stage of theInternational Championship 6–4 byLiang Wenbo.^[34] Another opening round defeat in a ranking came at theUK Championship 6–1 toDavid Grace.^[35] At theGdynia Open, Higginson defeated five players to reach the semi-finals, but lost 4–2 toMark Selby. This saw him finish 15th on theOrder of Merit and qualify for theGrand Final, where he was knocked out 4–1 byMatthew Selt.^[36] Higginson failed to win a match at a ranking event for the sixth time this season when he suffered a 5–3 loss toYuan Sijun in the wildcard round of theChina Open.^[34] His ranking slump continued as he was placed 56th in the world.^[37]

Higginson won a first round ranking event match for the first time since the2014 UK Championship by eliminatingMitchell Mann 4–1 at the2016 Indian Open, but lost 4–2 againstOliver Lines in the second round.^[38] He was beaten 4–3 byRobbie Williams in the third round of thePaul Hunter Classic. Higginson qualified for theEuropean Masters by defeatingStephen Maguire 4–3 and Ashley Hugill 4–1 and got to the last 16 of a full ranking event for the first time in over three years by whitewashingMarco Fu 4–0, but then lost 4–0 toJudd Trump.^[38] He was edged out 6–5 after being 5–2 up onJoe Perry in the opening round of theInternational Championship.^[39] After knocking outDavid Gilbert 5–3 andRicky Walden 5–4 at theChina Open, Higginson was close to making the quarter-finals as he was 4–3 ahead of world number oneMark Selby, but went on to lose 5–4.^[40]

Outcome	No.	Year	Championship	Opponent in the final	Score
Runner-up	1.	2007	Welsh Open	Neil Robertson	8–9

Outcome	No.	Year	Championship	Opponent in the final	Score
Winner	1.	2011	Players Tour Championship – Event 5	John Higgins	4–1

Outcome	No.	Year	Championship	Opponent in the final	Score
Winner	1.	2000	UK Tour - Event 2	Scott MacKenzie	6–3
Runner-up	1.	2009	Masters Qualifying Event	Rory McLeod	1–6
Runner-up	2.	2012	HK Spring Trophy	Mark Selby	1–6

• North West Championship (1998, 1999)
• Merseyside Junior Championship (1997)
• North West Pairs Championship (1996)
• North West Junior Championship (1995)

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• Andrew Higginson atWPBSA (archived)
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• Andrew Higginson at Snooker.org

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