Wilson hails 'awesome' Higgins as he suffers a crushing exit at the Crucible

Wilson was beaten 13-2 in his second-round clash against the four-time champion with Higgins wrapping up the comfortable success with a session to spare.

World number seven Wilson arrived in Sheffield as one of the World Snooker Tour’s form players, having made the final of the recent Tour Championship.

And ‘The Warrior’ carried that form over in the first round, firing in the 13th maximum 147 break in Crucible history during his 10-5 victory over Ryan Day.

But Wilson’s momentum was brought to an abrupt halt in yesterday (Sunday) morning’s opening session when Higgins put on a supreme showing to take a clean sweep of the frames and earn an 8-0 advantage.

When play got underway last night, Higgins relentlessly pushed on, stealing the first on the black and it was soon 10-0 when the Scot hammered home a brilliant break of 128.

Wilson eventually staved off the whitewash thanks to a break of 55 in the 11th but Higgins restored his 10-frame lead by taking the 12th on the black.

The next two frames were traded, before Higgins embarked on a 147 attempt.

His run ended on 80, but it was enough to see him over the line for an emphatic 13-2 victory.

Wilson wasn’t helped by a damaged cue after he dropped it in its case while signing autographs for fans outside the Crucible after the first session yesterday.

But the 31-year-old made few excuses for his decisive exit.

“He (Higgins) was awesome,” Wilson said.

“He literally gave me nothing at all. It was a very frustrating match. I felt everything that could go wrong, did go wrong.

“Sometimes in this game you need a bit of luck on your side.

“In a long format it can be swings and roundabouts, but it never went for me. John capitalised on that and kept turning the screw.

“I felt amazing going in there in the evening and as soon as I hit a couple of balls I realised that a weight is loose in my cue.

“That is another setback, but I’m not going to use it as an excuse. I had fancied having a good go of it until that point though.”