The final of the Cazoo Players Championship takes place inside the Marshall Arena in Milton Keynes on Sunday and it should be a clash for the ages as two all-time greats meet as Ronnie O’Sullivan takes on John Higgins for the title.
These two have won everything there is to win in the game but haven’t met each other in a ranking event final for 16 years which is only going to add to the excitement and intrigue around this best of 19 frame clash.
Ronnie O’Sullivan
The world champion Ronnie O’Sullivan has made it through to his second consecutive ranking event final after featuring in the Welsh Open final a week ago. He lost that to Jordan Brown but you sense he couldn’t get inspired by the occasion against a grossly inferior ranked opponent. It would be a huge surprise if he is not turned on by the prospect of playing one of his fellow legends here in what is a showpiece final for the sport.
O’Sullivan has been a little up and down this week. He was pretty ordinary by his standards in the first round against Ding Junhui but he was almost flawless in the quarter final against Jack Lisowski. He reverted back to being normal against Barry Hawkins in the semi-final but the fact is he has seen off three very good opponents to make it through to this final, as he bids to win his first trophy since he won the world title in August.
John Higgins
The player who wins the tournament will often be the best player in it but right now that honour comfortably falls to John Higgins. He has played some of the best snooker we have seen from anyone for quite some time so far this week and you sense he isn’t slowing down either. He has made it through to this final losing just one of the 19 frames he has played over the course of the competition and looks menacingly good.
Higgins has seen off the challenges of Jordan Brown, Mark Selby and Kyren Wilson losing just the one frame in the process. You can’t say he has gotten better as the tournament has gone on because he was at a high standard to begin with. There has been a visible air of confidence over Higgins since the event started and you get the impression he is ready to win this title, possible fuelled by the fire of the defeat in The Masters final last month.
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Head to Head
These two legends have met on 66 previous occasions with Ronnie O’Sullivan having an edge in those past battles with 34 wins to 29 of the Scot. There have also been three draws in that time. The O’Sullivan success is highlighted by the frame count where he leads by 20 frames – 373-353. Of the 66 matches they have played in the past, 17 of them have been finals where O’Sullivan has come out on top on 10 occasions and Higgins seven. Their most famous final was probably the one in The Masters back in 2006 which Higgins won in an epic deciding frame. Their last meeting was in the same tournament just last month, a quarter final which Higgins won 6-3.
Betting
We should be in for an amazing final here because these two have both shown over the last two weeks or so that they are in great form and even now when they are at their best there are few better players in the game. I think both will inspire each other to perform at their best here too. We saw evidence of that in The Masters last month when we saw the very best of Higgins and O’Sullivan wasn’t far behind even in defeat.
Those who have followed us all week will already be on Higgins to win this match at 11/1 and there’s nothing I’ve seen to suggest we’ve not backed a winner so to compliment that bet I’m going to take the over in the centuries here. The line is 3.5 but in just nine frames in The Masters last month they made five of them and you’ve got to think we are going to see at least another eight frames in this one if not more. There will be some tactical frames here but both men score so well that I still expect to see four centuries here. We only need two tons from each player and if you narrow it down further we need one century from each in both sessions. The way they have played this week and their style will suggest we’ll get that here.
Tips
WON – Back Over 3.5 centuries for a 3/10 stake at 1.80 with Bet365
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