Higgins hits out after early exit

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Higgins lost 13-9 to Welshman Ryan Day in the second round at the Crucible - and the Scot laid the blame squarely at the door of tournament director Mike Ganley, claiming it was "pretty pathetic" that the tables had not been re-covered before the start of the second round.

"We are talking about the biggest tournament in our lives and when I ask the question the answer I get back is that they haven't got the manpower to re-cover the tables before the second round," said Higgins. "I don't think the tournament director is doing his job correctly. We are not asking a lot, it should be easily fixed."

He added: "The cushions are totally unplayable. Let me stress Ryan totally deserved to win and the conditions are the same for both players, but it was a lottery whenever you were playing off any cushions."

Day, who reached the quarter-finals for the first time, said: "I understand what John was saying but I just tried to get on with it.

"There's not a lot you can do about it, we have all played on the same table. I think I dealt with it best. I don't think it was all that bad and even a brand new cloth has bad bounces."

Day will face Stephen Hendry in the last eight after the seven-time champion completed a surprisingly easy 13-7 victory over Chinese star Ding Junhui.

Another former champion, 2005 winner Shaun Murphy, also added his voice to complaints about the playing conditions after suffering a 13-4 thrashing against Essex's Ali Carter.

"We have a gambling sponsor, why don't we take the championship to a casino and have a real game of chance?" said Murphy. "This is the world championship, the gala event we all look forward to. Yes I'll hold my hands up, I missed some shots I shouldn't have, but there were a lot of problems out there that cost me the match."

In the day's final action, Ronnie O'Sullivan claimed a 5-3 lead over Mark Williams after the first session of their second-round clash. The encounter resumes on Sunday evening.