Snooker: Higgins recovers from bad start to beat Maguire

John Higgins continued his comeback from his six-month ban by reaching the semi-finals of the UK Championship after a high-quality last-eight win over Stephen Maguire last night.

Higgins kept his nerve to pull off a 9-7 victory after Maguire had stormed back from a two-frame deficit at the start of the evening session to briefly hold the lead at 6-5.