John Higgins looks like reaching the World Snooker Championship final after opening up a 13-3 lead over Mark Allen.

The Scot stretched his lead from 6-2 by winning seven of the eight frames in today's opening session.

After final-frame deciders against Jamie Cope and Mark Selby in the previous two rounds, two-time former champion Higgins was having it far easier against Northern Irishman Allen.

Higgins's terrific performance has put him four frames away from a place in the final, and meant there was a strong chance the match would finish tonight.

Allen, 23, knocked out Ronnie O'Sullivan and Ryan Day to reach his first Crucible semi-final, but he could not find any rhythm this morning and his all-round play was erratic.

He belatedly found some form in the 14th frame, when he made a crowd-pleasing break of 103, but that only cut Higgins's lead to 11-3 before the Scot won the next two frames. Shaun Murphy and Neil Robertson resumed this afternoon tied at 4-4 in the other semi.