John Higgins chokes back tears live on air and consoled by BBC snooker host

struggled to hold back his tears live on the BBC as he discussed his father-in-law's heart attack last week. The Scot defeated Joe O'Connor 10-7 thanks to a much-improved second session, though there was doubt whether he would turn up at the at all.

Higgins such as the Champions Dinner and Green Carpet Ceremony. While the sport's top players travelled to Sheffield, Higgins remained in Scotland by his wife Denise's side during a worrying time for their family.

The four-time world champion did travel down but endured a slow start against O'Connor, despite ending at the mid-way stage down just 5-4. A barnstorming second session, however, set up a last-16 tie with Xiao Guodong.

"That was a tough game," Higgins said. "I thought Joe played great in the first session and I just managed to scramble out at 5-4. Tonight I played better."

He then could not stop the tears from flowing and cried live on air before being consoled by Beeb host Seema Jaswal, who gave him a big hug after a very tough few days for Higgins and his family.

Higgins said: "That was the most emotional I have ever been today. I left my wife and I was in tears. Obviously my father-in-law wasn't great. I was sitting having dinner with my boy last night and I was thinking about sitting here with my dad 25 years ago. I was drained today.

"I had a couple of hours sleep and I came out tonight and felt a lot better and played a lot better. I am still so proud that I am still playing at a good level at this age."

Last year, Higgins admitted that he may have played his final matches in Sheffield, having been in danger of falling out of the top 16 at the age of 49.

But the Wizard of Wishaw has had a tremendous campaign, winning two ranking titles, and is a leading contender to claim the World Championship.

"Never stop believing, never stop believing," the third seed said ahead of the tournament. "It will be nice going back to the Crucible with more self-belief.

"It shows you how quickly things can turn around. It shows you that you should never lose belief in yourself or the game. There are always sunnier days ahead.

"Over the years you always try to win events before you go to the Crucible to give yourself that inner belief and I've managed to do that this season.

"I've not had that in the last couple of years so you've got that behind you from the get go. This year will be the first time in four long years where I've gone as a champion and tasted what it's like to win. I'll be going there in a good frame of mind."