John Higgins began his World Championship campaign in fine style with a 10-3 thrashing of David Grace in the last 32, and he says a disappointing season is already forgotten as he has the juices flowing at the Crucible.
The four-time world champion has had an extremely quiet season so far, by his standards, with just one ranking quarter-final, although he did pick up the non-ranking Championship League title in March.
With wins few and far between over the last year, not many were tipping him for Crucible glory for a fifth time, but he did show flashes of form of late, with that solitary quarter-final coming at the WST Classic last month.
The Wizard of Wishaw says things have turned around since shortening his cue, making it as short as it has been for over two decades and feeling the benefit.
‘I think my action has always stayed the same but, I’ve done it all my career, but it’s the size of my equipment,’ Higgins told a press conference on his encouraging recent form.
‘I’ve obviously made my equipment as small as it was 25 years ago, this is the smallest I’ve gone, just to try and make it so the less that can go wrong the better, when you’re pushing the cue through.
‘It seems to be, maybe six weeks ago, I felt more in control of my game and it’s coming out in my matches.
‘I won the small event [Championship League], but I’ve put up some decent performances. I lost to a very good Mark Selby in the WST Classic, I was coming here happy with the way I was hitting it.’
The Scot finished his opening match with a century, his second of the contest, also knocking in six half-centuries along the way to a comfortable win.
Asked whether that one victory can see the rest of the season already fade away, Higgins was unequivocal.
‘Totally, it’s away,’ he said. ‘You’re in the last 16 of the best tournament in the world now, you’re on a high right now, you’re not thinking about what happened during the season.
‘You’re into the second week of the tournament and the juices will get flowing, I’m sure.’
Higgins takes on either Ryan Day or Kyren Wilson in the last 16, starting on Sunday.
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