Gould beaten by four-time champion Higgins at Crucible

Martin Gould fell at the first hurdle of the World Championship for the sixth time in eight appearances as he was beaten 10-6 by John Higgins.

The Pinner potter failed to recover from Monday’s first session, when he lost the first five frames and was 7-2 down overnight.

Gould did threaten a comeback when he took the first two frames on Tuesday, beginning with a break of 108, but Higgins responded with a 127 and held the 35-year-old Englishman at bay.

The Scot – aiming to win his fifth world title – wrapped up victory with a break of 82.

“In the first session, I could have been 5-0 up,” Gould said.

“I’ve had a couple of bad contacts but they’re part of the game. Sometimes it can go for you, sometimes it doesn’t.

“Once I won the first two [on Tuesday] I thought to myself, if I can nick the third one as well it’s going to be definitely game on.

“But John made a true champion’s break of 127 to make it 8-4 and that probably settled him down a little bit.”