Higgins, the championship second favourite at 4-1 and a 7-1 on chance to beat Selby for the second year in succession (12 months ago he did exactly that 10-5), admitted he just couldn't get going.

"Mark deserved to win, he was the better player," said Higgins, whose defeat cost him any chance of leading the world rankings next season.

The world No 6 faced a 6-3 overnight deficit and while he won the first frame of the night, there were no more successes as Selby, a 22-year-old, finished him off with successive breaks of 123, 58, 59 and 110.

"If I can keep reproducing that form, I can go all the way and win the title. It's daunting playing John here and a dream come true to beat him. Two centuries in four frames is as good as anyone can play."

Higgins, the 1998 world champion said, "The fourth frame was a bad one and I never recovered from losing it on the black. Mark needed a snooker on the pink but went on to lead 3-1.

"After that I was never at the races. I thought Mark might have been a bit more nervous but he has changed his game compared to a year ago and is a better player for it.

"He had seemed to me then to be a player who wasn't going to do a lot in snooker but now he could do very well.

"I've had a good season and came here with high hopes but it was not to be. Mark gave me a tough match last year and I felt this time I was a much better player than I was then.

"But this defeat, though such a disappointment, isn't as bad as when I lost to Graeme Dott in the second round here two years ago," added Higgins who this season has won the Grand Prix and Wembley Masters.

Former world champion John Parrott is not about to quit snooker, he confirmed after suffering a 10-3 defeat at the hands of Scot Graeme Dott in the first round.

The 1991 world champion, who has not won a match at the Crucible since 2000 and has plunged to No 43 in the rankings, admitted that having lost the first six frames, his whitewash of Eddie Charlton in the opening round 14 years ago, the only 10-0 defeat at Sheffield, did enter his thoughts.

"I have had a reasonable amount of success here and I know people were only pleased when I won frame seven but to hear ironic cheers wasn't nice," he said.

The 41-year-old father of two added, "My match play is OK, the problem is concentration and those first nine frames completely passed me by, I just didn't settle. I can make a break of 40-50 and know that a bad shot is coming and that throws my opponent a lifeline.

"My two kids were here watching and they hadn't seen me walk into the arena before. But the last time I felt as nervous as I did in this match was when they were born."

Dott, runner-up to Ronnie O'Sullivan in 2004, compiled breaks of 98, 80, 61, 59, 57, 56 and 50. He said, "I've gained a lot of confidence doing so well here two years ago though there are still lots of things to work on in my game."

Dott and Selby were joined in the last 16 by Welsh Open champion Stephen Lee, who defeated Alister Carter 10-8 after leading 7-3.

As Carter went into an 8-7 lead he put together the highest break so far, a total clearance of 135 in frame 15. But Lee gathered his composure and breaks of 61, 62 and 71 carried him into the second frame.

Steve Davis, the six times world champion, took five-and-a-half hours completing a 10-4 victory over Andy Hicks. The last frame alone took 52 minutes and is the longest of the championship so far.

Davis never made a break of over 50 and now faces holder Shaun Murphy for a place in the quarter-finals.

John Dee

The Nation