John Higgins remains on course to defend his Indian Open title after moving into the quarter-finals with a comprehensive victory over James Cahill.

Higgins, 43, who beat fellow Scot Anthony McGill to lift the trophy last season, was far too good for his 23-year-old opponent, running out a 4-1 winner in Kochi.

The Wizard of Wishaw opened up a commanding 3-0 lead over Cahill, with the highlight a 56 break in the third frame before the Englishman hit back to reduce the deficit in frame four.

However that was as good as it got for the Blackpool-born youngster, who recently made it to the third round of the Welsh Open before losing to Scott Donaldson.

Higgins compiled a run of 55 in the fifth to advance to the last eight, where he will play China’s Li Hang – a 4-2 last-16 winner over 25-year-old Sam Craigie at the Grand Hyatt Kochi Bolgatty.

The match contained two century breaks, with Li hitting 130 in frame five while England’s Craigie amassed 104 in frame four after a break of 86 in the previous frame.

Things looked in the melting put at 2-2 but Li showed his class to pull away at the business end of proceedings to book a date later on Saturday with four-time world champion Higgins.

Higgins is hoping to go all the way in the Asian event, with an eye on the upcoming World Championship as he looks to go one further than last year when finishing runner-up to Mark Williams.

Higgins is 21.00 to win a fifth Crucible crown while Williams is on offer at 19.00 to pull off an unlikely defence in Sheffield.