John Higgins blasted tournament director Mike Ganley after his shock 9-13 loss to Ryan Day in the second round of the world championship in Sheffield.

The defending champion complained that the tables were unacceptably worn after eight days play.

"We are talking about the biggest tournament in our lives and the answer I get back is that they haven't got the manpower to re-cover the tables before the second round", said Higgins.
"It's flabbergasting and I let it get to me. The cushions are totally unplayable. Let me stress, Ryan totally deserved to win and the conditions are for both players but it was a lottery whenever you were playing off any cushions."

After resuming at 8-8 this morning, Higgins lost the first three frames, even though Day's highest break was just 49.

Though an impressive 83 gave Higgins renewed hope at the mid-session interval, the 32-year-old still needed to win four of a possible five remaining frames to progress.

But the out-of-sorts Higgins continued to miss easy pots, and Day went 12-9 ahead with a break of 48.

Another Day break of 48 was ended by a missed red along the cushion but, astonishingly, Higgins missed the easy opener allowing Day to seal a shock victory and book a quarter-final clash with either Stephen Hendry or Ding Junhui.

In the afternoon's other match another surprise was in prospect as Ali Carter coasted to an emphatic 12-4 lead, ending the session just a frame from victory over Shaun Murphy.

Breaks of 70, 94 and 55 helped saw Carter turn a 6-2 overnight advantage into an astounding 12-3 lead.

Murphy won the last frame before the break, but has surely only delayed the inevitable.