John Higgins was involved in his toughest match of the Liverpool Victoria UK Championship so far in Bournemouth last night.

However, the odds-on title favourite, who had coasted through the first three rounds, finally prevailed 9-6 against John Parrott, still disappointed by the decision of his beloved Everton to sell brother-in-law Duncan Ferguson to Newcastle.

The 23-year-old from Wishaw had to share the first 12 frames but, almost inevitably against Parrott, he had sufficient in reserve to become the first player into the semi-finals.

He has now beaten Parrott in their last seven meetings, including a couple of major finals and last season's world championship quarter-finals. ''I have a lot of respect for John because you would think all his television commitments would take the edge off his game,'' said the world No.1. ''However, he keeps coming up with the results.

''Even at 6-6, I still felt relaxed. I came in at the interval, watched a bit of football, and still fancied winning the match.''

Higgins has two days off before he takes on Steve Davis or Paul Hunter for a place in Sunday's best-of-19-frames final.

The added incentive of becoming only the fourth player to hold world and UK titles in the same year drives Higgins on. ''If I play well I still think I can do it. There's no more extra pressure on me here than winning the world championship.''

Davis returns to the table today refreshed after his marathon victory over Dumbarton's Marcus Campbell on Tuesday. His 9-7 success was the fifth longest best-of-17-frames match in snooker history.

It is unlikely the match against Hunter will be anywhere near as long as his 438 minutes slog against Campbell.

Hunter was tipped as a potential winner after beating Jimmy White in the last round. His game is based on all-out attack and even Davis's safety first tactics will be hard pressed to shackle the 20-year-old from Leeds.

Re-starting their quarter-final this afternoon are Dave Harold and Irishman Fergal O'Brien.

O'Brien's previous two matches have involved 33 out of a possible 34 frames, and his 9-8 victory over Anthony Hamilton topped Davis's dawdle for longevity. That went into the record books as the fourth longest of all time.

Harold leads 6-2 but will be wary that O'Brien came from 7-3 down to beat 1997 world champion Ken Doherty 9-7.