Another massive shock at the World Snooker Championship as the world no.19 and former Welsh Open finalist Andrew Higginson has defeated Stephen Lee 10-6 to reach the last 16 of the tournament for the first time in his career.

Betfred.com World Snooker Championship 2012 - Higginson dispatches Lee

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CRUCIBLE DRAW

Widnes Warrior Andrew Higginson hasn't had many successes in his professional career with the only tournament win coming in PTC5 earlier in the season.

However the former Welsh Open finalist managed to pull off one of the best victories of his career today by recording an impressive 10-6 victory over PTC Finals champion Stephen Lee.

At the end of their first session Higginson had the advantage over his higher ranked opponent, having finished the session 5-4 with top runs of 72, 61 and 58.

When they resumed today Higginson took a scrappy first frame only for Lee to knock in his second century of the match a 102 to come back to 5-6. The next two were shared before Higginson went two clear with a brilliant 111 clearance and then won the next with a break of 51 to go 9-6 with only four to play.

Former multiple ranking event winner Lee could only score 6 points before Higginson responded with a break of 61 to win the match 10-6 and knock yet another seeded player out of this year's world championship.

Andrew Higginson

The 36-year-old said 'I am over the moon to get through. Stephen is one of the more consistent players in recent months and I thought it would of been a much tougher match, I am thrilled.

'Winning the PTC helped my confidence. I had a bit of a blip at the UK, Welsh and China events but when you win an event beating Higgins in the final you can take a lot from that.

'Just to play at the Crucible again is fantastic, its a brilliant achievement. To actually win and see you friends and family cheering you on it just makes it a little bit more special.

Speaking about his second round opponent Jamie Jones 'He was brilliant to have won the match against Murphy, I don't think facing him in the second round is an easy draw as everyone is playing so well nowadays.'

At the time of writing (11pm) Shoot Out champion Barry Hawkins has a 5-3 lead over world no.1 Mark Selby in their first session. The 8th frame turned out to be the longest of this years tournament so far with the pair battling with the last red for close to 30 minutes which Hawkins eventually won.