Higgins progresses in Sheffield

John Higgins finished off Stephen Lee to pass his first test at the Betfred.com World Championship.

The 35-year-old from Wishaw briefly came under pressure when Lee fought back from 8-3 to 8-5 at the mid-session interval.

But the three-time world champion hit back and breaks of 74 and 81 secured his place in the second round.

Higgins led 6-3 from the first session, in which he made three centuries, and added his fourth of the match immediately on the resumption to stretch his lead.

When the Scot increased his lead to five frames, Lee looked forlorn in his seat. But the Trowbridge potter began to make inroads when a break of 101 gave him the next frame, and he looked to be playing well as he added the 13th.

It was imperative that Lee maintained such form on his return to the arena, but he left Higgins an easy starting red, and that proved a costly error. Higgins plundered a frame-winning break to leave himself one away from victory, and although a missed red meant he missed out on a fifth century in the match at the end, a solid opening victory was secure.

Earlier, Mark Selby, very much in the band of players being touted as potential champions, completed a 10-1 victory over Crucible rookie Jimmy Robertson.

He faces Stephen Hendry in the second round but will not fear the seven-time champion, having beaten him at the same stage last year.

Welshman Mark Williams tested the Crucible speed guns when he sprinted into a 7-1 lead against Jamie Cope in the first second-round match to get under way.

The Welshman's potting exhibition - he won the first four frames in 43 minutes - was briefly interrupted when Cope pulled a frame back, but Williams, champion in 2000 and 2003, reeled off a further three in a row inside 32 minutes to close in on the quarter-finals.