'I would love to do it in Shanghai' – Higgins on brink of historic landmark in China

Four-time world champion John Higgins is two tons short of becoming only the second snooker player in history to pass the 1,000 century mark.

The Scot could celebrate reaching four figures in his 32-year professional career when he meets Shaun Murphy in a blockbuster last-16 match at the Shanghai Masters on Wednesday afternoon (12:30pm BST, live on Eurosport and discovery+).

World No. 16 Higgins showed all of his celebrated scoring prowess in his 6-1 win over Lyu Haotian on Monday, when he produced runs of 126, 73, 135, 58 and 92 to reach 998 career centuries.

“I would love to do it in Shanghai, at a prestigious event,” said Higgins. “No disrespect, but I don’t want to do it in the qualifiers in Leicester when nobody is there.

“It would be special to maybe try to do it against Shaun. It would be a special occasion because the crowd was great tonight.

“I always enjoy playing Shaun because he plays the game in the right way. He loves going for his shots, he is attacking and hits the ball beautifully.”

Fellow ‘Class of ’92’ member and defending five-time Shanghai Masters champion Ronnie O’Sullivan – who moved into the quarter-finals of the event with a 6-1 win over Zhou Jinhao on Tuesday – became the first man to pass 1,000 centuries during the final frame of his 10-4 victory against Neil Robertson at the 2019 Players Championship final.

Higgins had compiled 745 century breaks at that point, but feels it would be like “the second man to walk on the moon” if he can reach the historic haul behind O’Sullivan.

Higgins crafts 126 century against Lyu to start Shanghai Masters in style

“I’ve never really went for centuries over the years,” said Higgins on WST. “It was concentrating on winning frames, but when you get close to it, then it is a nice milestone.

“I will hopefully be second only to O’Sullivan, which most people are nowadays in different records. I would be the second man to walk on the moon! So it would be special.”