Andrew Higginson

Andrew Higginson

Higginson at the 2013 German Masters
Born	(1977-12-13) 13 December 1977 (age 39) Cheshire
Sport country	England
Nickname	Widnes Warrior
Professional	1996–1999, 2000–2004, 2006–
Highest ranking	18 (October–November 2011 and May–July 2012)
Current ranking	49 (as of 18 December 2016)
Career winnings	£579,307
Highest break	147 (2007 Welsh Open)
Century breaks	121
Best ranking finish	Runner-up (2007 Welsh Open)
Tournament wins
Minor-ranking	1
Non-ranking	1

Andrew Higginson (born 13 December 1977, Cheshire, England) is an English professional snooker player, currently living in Widnes. He is best known for reaching the final of the 2007 Welsh Open as a virtual unknown.

After some success in amateur tournaments, he turned professional for the 2000/2001 season after finishing third on the Challenge Tour. He remained there for five seasons before dropping off, after encountering limited success. He won a place back on the tour for 2006/2007 after finishing second on the Pontins' International Open Series.

Higginson reached the televised stages of a ranking tournament for the first time at the 2007 Malta Cup, where he beat Steve Davis 5–4 before losing 2–5 to Ken Doherty at the last 16. At the very next tournament, the 2007 Welsh Open, Higginson hit an extraordinary run of form, defeating Marco Fu 5–2, John Higgins 5–3 (from 0–3 down), Michael Judge 5–1, Ali Carter 5–1 (making his first professional 147 break in the process) and Stephen Maguire 6–3 to reach the final. As he had spent the 2005/2006 season on the secondary Challenge Tour, he was the first unranked player to reach a ranking final since Terry Griffiths won the World title in 1979. At the end of the first session of the final, he trailed 2–6 to Neil Robertson. In the second session, Higginson managed to take the lead and change the score to 8–6, but Robertson recovered to level the scores at 8–8 and force a deciding frame, which he won. Higginson earned £20,000 for his 147 break, £2000 for the highest break and £17,500 for being the runner-up.

Despite his good season, Higginson failed to qualify for the 2007 World Championship, losing 9–10 to Ricky Walden in the third qualifying round. His performance in the Welsh Open and Malta Cup brought him to 44th in the 2007/2008 rankings, and 24th on the one-year list.