UK Championship - Day five - Higgins and Allen advance to semis

It's hard to grumble at the level of snooker being produced this week in Telford, but today we saw arguably the best match of this year's UK Championship so far.

John Higgins was the eventual 9-7 winner against his old pal Stephen Maguire, but it really was an absolute classic.

We were treated to a feast of snooker with big breaks, astute safety play and some individual pots right out of the top drawer.

In the first session, there was hardly anything between them, but Higgins managed to salvage a 5-3 advantage, and it wasn't until this evening that both players really turned on the style.

With a two-frame lead, Maguire knew he needed something special, and after winning the first three frames of the evening session, we all thought he might have it in his locker.

He was playing with fantastic confidence, but probably the key moment of the match was in frame 12. Higgins managed to snatch it and go in level at the interval. This frame gave the world number two some momentum, which he used to take the first two after the break, making it three on the spin, just as Maguire had produced earlier in the evening.

A seventh century in the tournament for Maguire brought him back within one frame, but Higgins dug deep to nick the match in the 16th and the match.

Either player could easily have won this tie. The snooker was of the highest quality, as we've come to expect from matches between these great two players.

Higgins enjoyed a slight rub of the green to creep past Graeme Dott in the last round, and although I wouldn't put this win down to fortune, things seem to be running his way. His never-say-die attitude and massive push on the practice table since returning to the sport, seem to be translating into his results.

In any sport, although it may be cliche, you do create your own luck. And Higgins is without doubt being handsomely rewarded for all the hard graft he's putting into his game.

Higgins was always going to take some beating, but even Maguire, who played as well as he has for a while, couldn't quite muster it. The Wizard of Wishaw showed again he's made of steel. I really enjoyed this match.

He'll now face Mark Allen in the semi-finals who overcame qualifier Stuart Bingham by the same scoreline.

Like Higgins, young gun Allen managed to retain the two-frame lead he built up in the afternoon session.

The Northern Ireland player was a strong favourite for this match, but Bingham was never one to be under-estimated. He's been too hot to handle for Ronnie O'Sullivan and Marco Fu already this week, and if Allen had believed his hype, he probably would have fallen foul too.

Bingham beat him in Shanghai earlier this season, and that probably helped him get his game head on for this one.

Allen has built up a vast reputation for being one of the game's great potters, but has often fallen over in other more tactical areas of the game, hence why he's yet to play in a ranking final. Bingham, who was bidding to reach his first ever ranking semi-final, is also a very open and capable attacking player, so would have fancied his chances had Allen's weakness come to the fore again.

But from this match, you got the sense Allen has maybe learned a lesson or two and matured his game. He's never going to be the most safety-aware player on the circuit, but he showed more brain in his game, and ended up winning the match.

Despite trailing, Bingham got this game right back to 7-7, clawing into Allen's lead, just like Ding Junhui had done in the last round. But on this showing, Allen's ability to fight off players coming back at him, looks like it could develop into one of his best attributes.