John Higgins and Mark Williams are masters of snooker 'dark arts' and this is their secret to World Championship magic

 With a combined age of almost 100, Higgins and Williams have been delighting fans for more than 30 years

John Higgins and Mark Williams might be veterans but they are still going strong

Mastering the dark arts has been the key to Wizard of Wishaw John Higgins' career.

It might sound like something from Harry Potter, but Magician Shaun Murphy insists that nobody is better at the ugly side of the game than Higgins and World Championship opponent Mark Williams.

The 49-year-old set up a quarter-final with 50-year-old Williams after eventually getting the better of China's Xiao Guodong, while Williams proved too strong for Iran's Hossein Vafaei.

And asked which traits from the legendary duo he'd love to have in his own game, Masters winner Murphy needed no time at all to think.

He told the BBC: "It would probably be the same thing and that’s ring craft.

"It’s the dark arts, it’s things we don’t really like to talk about. All the players on the Tour can make these fancy breaks, centuries and 147s. Not all of them can drag you into the trenches by putting colours safe.

"The mystical dark arts that we talk about. They’re both absolute masters of that. It’s part of what kept them where they are.

"When someone wins this match you'll look through the wreckage of it as a loser. And it could be as early as frame one where Mark missed a red in the first with the balls at his mercy."

Shaun Murphy envies John Higgins and Mark Williams for their ring-craft

Speaking prior to the match, Higgins explained that he would be relishing taking on one of his oldest rivals on the sport's biggest stage.

The Wizard of Wishaw told SportsBoom: "Twenty-five years ago, we could have been playing here, and we’d have been big, big rivals. Now I think we just walk into the practice room, and we give each other a nod as to say we’re doing all right.

“There’s great young talents coming through that are involved in the game now, and to think we are both still fighting with them which is great to testament to us.

“We played the 2018 final here, which was an unbelievable occasion. He’s just an unbelievable champion; I just can’t wait. I’ll go out and enjoy it. If I win, great, if I don’t, I’ll shake his hand and wish he goes on as well.”