John Higgins described his quarter-final heroics against Mark Selby as his 'best ever' performance after squeezing into the World Championship semi-finals with a 13-12 win.

Higgins will now go head-to-head with Mark Allen in the semis after dramatically battling back, he was never in front until the final frame, to beat the highly-regarded Selby.

Neil Robertson beat world number two Stephen Maguire 13-8 to set up a semi-final match with Shaun Murphy.

"I really don't know how I won that match," said Higgins. "I think I only counted three or four balls in the whole match that he missed.

"I'm flabbergasted. He's such a great player. That was probably my best win ever. That's how highly I regard Mark and that's how highly I regard his performance."

In the 22nd frame, Selby looked to have nailed the match as he moved ahead, potting the final red but his eventual mistakes and poor safety allowed Higgins to take the match to a final-frame decider.

And Higgins kept his cool under pressure in the 23rd frame to put together a break of 75 and seal his semi-final progression.

"We were sitting there at the two re-racks and he said, 'Can we just call it a draw because there shouldn't be a loser in this match?'," said Higgins.

"I said, 'you're dead right there mate'. I don't know how I held myself together."