The second match at The Masters on Tuesday sees another of the Triple Crown badge wearers in action when John Higgins takes on Barry Hawkins in a good looking clash that forms the evening session inside Alexandra Palace.
Higgins is a former winner of this title whereas Hawkins has not yet won any of the three major events and will be looking to put that right here. A spot in the quarter final against Ali Carter is the reward for the man who comes out in front.
John Higgins
Higgins has yet to win a title this season but he has been in two semi-finals where he has run into Judd Trump in stellar form on both occasions. We couldn’t call this term a vintage one for Higgins just yet but we have seen on a number of times that he often comes good in the second half of the campaign, and it would be foolish of us to think that won’t happen again. If it is going to you, you would think he’ll go well here.
Higgins doesn’t have the best record here. He has won the title twice, the last time in 2006, but he hasn’t featured in a final since then and that is a surprise given that most of the time he will have played this tournament from the leading ranking positions. In fact, in the 13 years since then he has gone out in the first round on seven occasions, so he is going to need to find a way to overcome that in order to win here.
Barry Hawkins
There is no doubt Barry Hawkins is a top player and rightfully comes here with a wonderful reputation. He is a former finalist in this very venue after all, however it has to be said he has had one of the worst first halves of a season we can remember, and he will have needed to do some serious work in the Christmas break if he is going to offer up a competitive showing. We know these one table formats can get the best out of him, but it will certainly need to.
Hawkins did make the final of the Paul Hunter Classic earlier in the season, but that is no longer the tournament it used to be. In proper ranking events his best has been a couple of quarter finals so if he is going to come through the draw here a massive improvement will be needed. The one thing he has to his advantage is he has seen two huge guns go out of his half of the draw already so there is an opportunity there if he is good enough to take it.
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Head to Head
These two have met on 17 past occasions and it couldn’t be much tighter between them as John Higgins holds a narrow 9-8 lead over Hawkins although a number of the Hawkins wins came in the Championship League. That is also reflected in the frame totals where Higgins holds a slender 68-61 advantage on that front. Despite having a horrendous season so far it is Hawkins who has won their only previous meeting in it, coming out in a deciding frame in the Shanghai Masters. This will be the first time they have met at The Masters although Higgins did beat Hawkins in the World Championship semi-final in 2017.
Betting
You can pick holes in both these players at the present time but I would favour John Higgins here. Pretty much the only thing Hawkins has got going for him is the history of him being better after Christmas in most seasons than before it. He was so bad at times before it though that we can’t rely on that being the case once again. Higgins on the other hand has had a better campaign but some of his performances at the UK Championship were truly horrific.
If Hawkins was in any kind of form whatsoever then I would be taking him because Higgins hasn’t pulled up any trees lately but the Englishman isn’t in any form which isn’t much help. To the credit of Higgins, after a poor UK Championship in terms of performances, he still made the quarter final there and won a few matches in Scotland before qualifying for the German and European Masters. We know Higgins can win when all isn’t well. Hawkins can’t. I can see Higgins having a bit to spare here.
Tips
WON – Back J.Higgins (-1.5 frames) to beat B.Hawkins for a 4/10 stake at 2.10 with 888sport
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