The second semi-final of The Masters will take place inside the Marshall Arena in Milton Keynes on Saturday evening and it will be a repeat of an epic 2019 World Championship last four clash when Dave Gilbert takes on John Higgins for a place in Sunday’s final.
Higgins won that world semi a couple of years ago in a deciding frame trailed from early on right up to the winning line so Gilbert may well have a bit of a revenge mission on his mind here. This match is worth £40,000 to the winner so is sure to be competitive.
Dave Gilbert
I give a lot of credit to Dave Gilbert going into this match. His form this season has been ordinary but he has admitted that he has put a lot of work in for this tournament which is encouraging to hear and he received the rewards of that labour when he produced two excellent breaks to see off Kyren Wilson 6-5 in the quarter final from 5-4 behind. That little burst ticked a lot of boxes, the one that he can play under pressure and the other that he hasn’t lost any of his scoring ability.
He is likely to need to show both facets again here but if he needs belief that he can compete with Higgins he only needs to revisit that Sheffield showdown. We haven’t seen the best of Gilbert this week yet but this is probably the first match he’s been a clear outsider in which might allow him to relax and let his best snooker flow. If it does we know he has the quality to put up a serious challenge both in this match and a final which might follow.
John Higgins
The legend that is John Higgins rolled back the years and some in the quarter final win over Ronnie O’Sullivan on Friday night. It was about as well as he has played for a while. His safety play was excellent and his scoring was off the charts. He was getting in from distance and there was a visible and noticeable intent to clear the table and more often than not that is exactly what he did, with a 145 break a particular highlight.
The big question over Higgins now is whether he can back up that performance. I don’t think anyone is expecting him to play that well again, that would be very hard, but if he can get close to it then he is going to be a tough nut to crack here. You do sense the confidence increasing in Higgins with the new cue he has and he has mentioned about working on a technical issue so we know he is practicing. He is now the favourite for the tournament which adds pressure onto his shoulders. He’s used to that though.
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Head to Head
Another thing that will give Higgins confidence is his record against Gilbert. They have played on seven previous occasions and he has won six of them. Their last meeting in a 15 red match was that world semi a couple of years ago. Higgins leads 49-38 in terms of the frame counts so his wins tend to be pretty comfortable ones. You do sense Gilbert is a different player since that World Championship so it will be interesting to see how much we can base the outcome of this one on those previous battles. This is their first meeting at The Masters but Higgins has won their previous semi-final, that clash at Sheffield.
Betting
My suspicion is that we’re going to see a close match here. Both these men will see the opportunity in front of them and will not be willing to let it go without a fight. It would be unfair on the two in the other semi-final to suggest this is effectively the final but there is no denying that the winner of this one will be the favourite to win on Sunday so this is a pretty big match for both of them, which should only add to the competitiveness.
Their semi-final in the World Championship was as good a match as you’ll ever see and even though he lost Gilbert will hopefully have taken confidence from that. There is more to come from Gilbert and I think we’ll see it here without the pressure of expectation on his shoulders whereas I don’t expect Higgins to be as good as he was against O’Sullivan. Keeping that form up is very hard. If the two meet in the middle in terms of their form this week we should get over 9.5 frames before this is done.
Tips
WON – Back Over 9.5 frames for a 3/10 stake at 2.30 with William Hill
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