Superb Higgins in class of his own

John Higgins, who made three centuries in overwhelming James Wattana 10-1 in the first round, made three more, 107, 101 and 124 in swamping his fellow Scot Graeme Dott 8-0 in the opening session of their best-of-25 frames contest in the Embassy World Championship at the Crucible.

Higgins, whose 14 centuries in winning the title in 1998 remains a record for any single tournament, also had runs of 79, 72 and 62 as he drove towards a prospective quarter-final against Matthew Stevens.

Stephen Lee, who has won two of the season's previous eight world-ranking tournaments, made significant progress towards a quarter-final against Ronnie O'Sullivan, the defending champion.

Lee arrived at his 7-1 overnight advantage over Quinten Hann with a run of 270 points unanswered but for the single red Hann fluked by smashing the pack indiscriminately with his break-off shot in the sixth frame.

Breaks of 68, 64, 136 and 73 underlined the possibility that if a new name is to be inscribed on the 75-year-old trophy, it is most likely to be Lee's.

Ken Doherty, the 1997 champion, prevailed 13-12 over Mark King on Saturday and expects Stephen Hendry to be his quarter-final opponent, the Scotsman currently leading Anthony Davies 6-2.

Peter Ebdon, the 1996 runner-up, closed out Joe Perry 13-7, while the 2000 champion Mark Williams trailed Anthony Hamilton 5-3 going into their session last night.

· Kelly Fisher won the women's world title for the fourth time in five years by beating Lisa Quick 4-1 to complete an unprecedented grand slam of the women's world-ranking events.