The final of the International Championship will be played out in Nanjing on Sunday when a legend of the game meets a man looking for his first major title as John Higgins goes up against Wu Yize over the best of 19 frames for the title.
In terms of tournament winning experience, this final is an absolute mismatch but in terms of talent it is a lot closer and it will be interesting to see whether it is the been there and done it knowledge of Higgins which wins the day or the exuberant talent of Wu Yize which does.
John Higgins
This has been a wonderful week for John Higgins and he will now be looking to crown it with the title which given what he has put together already this season will as good as ensure he remains in the top 16 of the world rankings for another two seasons. It will make him a leading player in all of the Players Series events and will boost him for the Triple Crown events which are on the horizon so the Scot certainly isn’t short of motivation for this final.
In terms of all-round game and experience in the biggest of matches, things are very much on the side of Higgins and the fact that he was able to dominate his semi-final with Stephen Maguire from start to finish which means that he won’t have had too much taken out of him ahead of this final, although he had a day off before that semi so that shouldn’t have been an issue either way. If Higgins starts well you fancy he could be tough to beat here.
Wu Yize
Although Wu Yize hasn’t won a major tournament yet, he has been knocking on the door of winning one and regardless of whether it opens for him here or not the one thing which seems certain is that at some point soon he is going to be a trophy winner. He isn’t just playing for his first title here though. A win will move him into the top 16 in the world rankings and would present automatic qualification for the UK Championship and would have him favourite to make The Masters too which is huge.
There is no doubt that Wu Yize has been the best player in the tournament this week. That doesn’t mean that he’ll win it though. He has to perform strongly one more time but what it does mean is that he can have some confidence. He rattled off 12 frames in succession to see off Judd Trump and Barry Hawkins in the middle of the event and then took care of the world champion Zhao Xintong in the semi-final so he is more than worthy of his spot in this final.
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Head-to-head
These two men have met twice in professional competition and John Higgins has won both of those matches. He leads 12-9 in the frame count so they have both been tough matches. This is the second time they have faced each other in this tournament with Higgins winning 6-5 in an earlier round back in 2019. It is the first time they have met in a final and the first time they will have played over the best of 19 frames. History is on the side of Higgins but how much we can read into it remains to be seen.
Betting
This should be a really good final and it might be that the outcome of it is down to how quickly Wu Yize settles on what is the biggest day of his career so far. If he settles quickly then there is no doubt that he has played the better snooker this week and therefore he would have a real chance to win this. He has had a day off to consider what the occasion will be like so you would hope that he starts well and takes it to Higgins here.
Higgins is going to be hard to beat. It is only seven months ago that he won the Tour Championship over this format so we know there are no stamina issues or anything like that. My hunch is that Wu Yize will come out on top here but just in case he starts a little slowly and needs a couple of frames to settle the better bet might well be to take over 16.5 frames which means we are looking at a 10-7 score either way for this to land, or something closer. That feels like it has every chance to me.
Tips
Back Over 16.5 frames for a 3/10 stake at 1.90 with Betway
