John Higgins put his agonising defeat to Jamie Jones at the Scottish Open into stark perspective after meeting a fan with lung cancer.
The home favourite had one foot in the last 16 at the Meadowbank Sports Centre in Edinburgh when he led 3-1 and left Jones needing two snookers in frame five.
But the Welshman, who hadn't beaten Higgins since 2012, dramatically got both he needed before closing out the frame to stay alive and then took the next two in a dramatic 4-3 triumph.
Defeat for Higgins, who was runner-up here in 2016 and 2021, ends his quest to get his hands on the Stephen Hendry Trophy for a first time and is now also left stranded in 74th position on the live one-year list ahead of the English Open where he'll need to go far if he's to climb into the top 32 and qualify for the World Grand Prix.
But Higgins said: “When I walked in today I was talking to an old lady with lung cancer. She said it was brilliant to get to see me and she hasn’t got long to live. You just have to tell yourself that you have lost one game of snooker and there are other people going through a hell of a lot worse.
"I am disappointed, but I live to fight another day and I live to fight another thousand days probably on the snooker table. That is the way life is."
