The most lucrative match of the snooker season takes place on Saturday as John Higgins meets Stuart Bingham in the final of the China Championship. In monetary terms the two men are playing for £100,000 with both men guaranteed at least that for making the final with the winner pocketing £200,000.
The final is over two sessions and the best of 19 frames and is all set up to be a cracking end to what has been a really good tournament debut, an event which already appears set into the snooker calendar.
John Higgins
The Scot has come through this draw fairly smoothly so far when you consider the quality in the field but a lot of that has been down to his opponents not having their best game against him. Even so you don’t see off the likes of Mark Williams, Ali Carter and Mark Allen without playing well yourself so he has to be respected.
You would be pushing the boundaries somewhat to suggest Higgins is at his best but we’ve seen throughout his career that he can win titles with his B game. In saying that this is a major final and he may well be forced to produce his best stuff of the week so far if he is to prevail.
Stuart Bingham
If Higgins has taken advantage of weak performances the same can’t be said for Stuart Bingham. Opponents have really laid it down to him this week but the former world champion has prevailed in two titanic tussles to make his way through to this final.
Both Michael Holt and Shaun Murphy have taken Bingham the distance in the last two rounds but when push has come to shove Bingham has delivered both times. The three centuries he made in the epic semi-final win over Murphy highlights the excellent form that the Englishman is in and after a couple of semi-final defeats in the last month he will be eyeing up the title here.
Head to Head
There have been 17 previous meetings between these two with Higgins holding a comfortable 11-5 lead with the one draw but I doubt the Scot will need reminding that it was Bingham who won their last meeting which was at Alexandra Palace at the start of 2016, Bingham winning 6-3 in The Masters quarter final.
Prior to that Higgins had won five on the spin with the latter two coming in deciding frames which suggests we could be in for a tight final.
Betting
Bookmakers can’t split the two heading into the final. If I had to favour one of them I would side with Bingham but I’ve been burnt opposing Higgins once already this week and have well and truly learned that lesson so I’m heading to the side markets for a punt on this final.
No matter who goes on a wins this final I do expect it to be tight. I think both are scoring well enough to get into the match and stop the other running away with it. Higgins has the edge in the tactical department but Bingham is scoring so well at the minute. That leads me to think we’ll get as far as frame 17 in this final and potentially a frame or two more too.
I also think over 2.5 centuries is overpriced. Bingham alone made three in his semi-final while Higgins slammed home a pair in his one-sided win over Mark Allen. It is clear both are scoring well so I’ll take the chance that three of the breaks in this match so really big.
Tips
WON – Back Over 16.5 frames for a 4/10 stake at 2.00 with Coral
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WON – Back Over 2.5 centuries for a 3/10 stake at 2.38 with Winner Sports
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