The final of The Masters takes place on Sunday and it is a battle of youth against experience inside the Marshall Arena in Milton Keynes as Yan Bingtao goes up against John Higgins for the Paul Hunter Trophy and the huge first prize.
Bingtao will be looking for his first Triple Crown title here in what is his first final in one of the big three major events in his career. Higgins will be looking to win this title for the first time in 15 years so we’re all set for a superb final.
Yan Bingtao
What else is there to say about Yan Bingtao that I didn’t say ahead of the semi-final other than I really like this kid. His bottle and ability under the biggest pressure is that of a man who is going to go great places in this game. He has made it through to this final courtesy of winning deciding frames in all three matches so we have to acknowledge that he is clutch in the big situations and that is something that could well lead him to this title.
If anything Bingtao has got better the longer the tournament has gone on and he has shown all the signs you want as a punter. He has played with freedom from the front and clutch snooker from behind. He has put disappointment behind him easily as well and his scoring is starting to warm up nicely for this final. If he doesn’t suffer from major nerves then you’ve got to think the Chinese ace is entitled to be hard to beat.
John Higgins
As predicted John Higgins was nowhere near as good in his semi-final win over Dave Gilbert as he was in the quarter final success against Ronnie O’Sullivan but he still got the job done and lives to play his best snooker again in this final. The immediate thing to point out is that a once regular tournament winner hasn’t won a singles tournament in coming up to three years. He is expected to win this final so it will be interesting to see how he handles that pressure.
The other reason why Higgins might feel a bit of extra heat in this match is that he is getting towards the twilight of his career so deep down he may not know how many more opportunities to win events like this will come around. You’ve got to think we’ll see somewhere in between his last two performances from him. We know he’ll be tactically sound in this final so if he can score like he has been over the last couple of weeks he may well be lifting the famous trophy at the end of the night.
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Head to Head
These two players have met six times in the past and they are locked at 3-3 although it is Yan Bingtao who has won their last two meetings, both in ranking event quarter finals so that shows he certainly isn’t scared of Higgins because both men will have been playing well to get to that point in a tournament. Higgins has a slight lead in the frame count 22-20 so his wins have been slightly easier although they were earlier in Yan’s career so you would expect that. This will be their first meeting in The Masters and the first time they have played each other in a final. This will actually be the first time they have met later than a quarter final. Interestingly Bingtao has won all three quarter finals.
Betting
I’ll go with a couple of bets for this final with the first of them being on Yan Bingtao to come out on top. I’ve been incredibly impressed with him all week and we’ve seen that he can handle himself under the biggest pressure already. That isn’t to say that John Higgins hasn’t and can’t but I sense he peaked against O’Sullivan and could easily be weighed down by the pressure of expectation. Bingtao looks like he is having the time of his life and there is no doubt in my mind that he has got better the longer the week has gone on. If he continues to improve then he is going to be a tough nut to crack. Bingtao doesn’t fear Higgins and if this goes close, which I think it will, I fancy the Chinese ace to come through.
I do think this will be a close final though, partly because they play a similar game to one another and also because there is a great chance for both of them to win a very big and prestigious title, something that doesn’t come along very often. We’ve seen both produce the goods when under pressure in this tournament which counts for something so I don’t see either running away with this match. I think Bingtao will win it but I’d be surprised if either win before we go beyond 16.5 frames.
Tips
WON – Back Y.Bingtao to beat J.Higgins for a 3/10 stake at 2.75 with Coral
Back him here:
WON – Back Over 16.5 frames for a 3/10 stake at 1.85 with Boylesports
Back it here:
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