Another Champion of Champions will be crowned on Sunday when the final of the 2021 tournament takes place in Bolton and we are guaranteed a new name on the trophy as Judd Trump takes on John Higgins for what is becoming a prestigious title in the game.
Trump has breezed into this final and will be confident of landing his first title of the season here. Higgins will be hoping that it is third time lucky given that he has lost out in the final of the previous two tournaments.
Judd Trump
The week began with Trump losing the first frame that he played but that is the only one in 17 that he has lost. He will begin this final having won his last 16 frames after successive 6-0 victories against Ryan Day and Kyren Wilson. The interesting thing in that run of form is that he hasn’t dazzled us with his scoring in a way that we often see him. Instead he has relied on his safety which has caused havoc for his opponents throughout the event.
You sense he’ll need to score better in this final because his opponent here can certainly mix it in the safety department but having had a day off to get things fine-tuned on the practice table it would be a surprise if we don’t see some of the fluent scoring we become accustomed to seeing from him. Trump hasn’t been in a final for seven months though so it will be interesting to see how he handles the pressure of this occasion.
John Higgins
I think it is fair to say that John Higgins has had much the tougher route to the final this week, both in the personnel he has had to overcome and the schedule he has had to endure. Higgins has so far seen off Ding Junhui and Ronnie O’Sullivan, the latter he fizzed against, and then outlasted Yan Bingtao in what turned into an epic semi-final, one which only finished in the early hours of Sunday morning which might be an inconvenience to him here.
In the main Higgins has scored well in the tournament but the one thing which has got him through to this final is the fighting spirit he has. Ding Junhui looked to have him on toast when he led him 3-1 in the first round and then Bingtao led by the same score at the interval in their semi-final. There is a confidence about Higgins at the minute but he will be only too aware that he has lost both the finals he has played this season and it will be interesting to see if that plays on his mind here.
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Head to Head
These two great players have met on 27 previous occasions in their career and it is Trump who holds a narrow 14-13 lead although I the frame count that equates to an advantage of 156-128 in favour of the world number two. That would suggest that when Trump does win he wins with a fair bit in hand whereas Higgins wins their closer matches. Trump will head into this match having won their last six meetings. These two have met in five previous finals with Higgins leading 3-2 in that department. They have met in a couple of world finals so are no strangers to meeting on the biggest stages. This will be just their second meeting over the best of 19 frames. Higgins won their first in the 2012 Shanghai Masters final.
Betting
I think there is just a little too much that John Higgins has to overcome in this final for my liking. He has to get over losing the last two finals this season and in both he has led by two with three to play so getting over the line is becoming a bit of an issue for him at the minute. The other thing he needs to overcome is the short turnaround between his semi-final and final. He has around 12 hours from polishing off Yan Bingtao to this final so that will be difficult.
Judd Trump is in the exact opposite position. While he hasn’t been in a final for a while, he has a wonderful record when it comes to playing for trophies and he played his semi-final on Friday night so he has had all the rest time he needs ahead of this encounter. The one thing Trump needs to guard against is lacking fight if he gets into a battle here having cruised through the first three stages of the tournament but he looks primed for his first title of the season and I fancy given the challenges Higgins has to overcome that Trump will have a bit in hand when he wins here.
Tips
Back J.Trump (-1.5 frames) to beat J.Higgins for a 3/10 stake at 1.73 with William Hill
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