Snooker: Mark Davis punishes sloppy John Higgins

Four-time winner John Higgins crashed out of the Betfair World Championship today as Mark Davis sent the Scot packing.

Englishman Davis converted an overnight 6-3 lead into a 10-6 victory over the man who triumphed at the Crucible in 1998, 2007, 2009 and 2011.

A despondent Higgins said: "I thought maybe at the start of the season I'd go on to better things but it's been pretty similar to last year. Mark has punished me for every shot that I missed and I did miss easy balls."

Davis described the victory as the best of his career. He said: "It's a bit surprising but for the majority of the match I punished him."