The second day of action at The Masters begins with a former champion taking on the new kid on the block as John Higgins meets the newly crowned UK Championship winner Zhao Xintong inside Alexandra Palace on Monday afternoon.
Zhao beat Higgins on his way to that UK crown so the Scot has an immediate chance of revenge in a setting which will be completely different to the one they met in up in York towards the end of 2021. Mark Williams awaits the winner in the quarter final.
John Higgins
There is a genuine case to be made that John Higgins is playing some of the most consistent snooker of his life at the minute. I wouldn’t go as far as to say that he is playing the best snooker he has ever played because he is a four-time world champion after all, but he has made four finals this season already, relatively soon after making the final of this tournament in Milton Keynes last year so the veteran Scot is in fine touch right now, even if he lacks a bit of silverware to rubber stamp that.
Although he has won this tournament twice, Higgins has openly admitted that it isn’t his favourite event on the calendar. He hasn’t always had great support in it because the London crowds are very vociferous towards their own. I think Higgins might have changed tack since the pandemic though because he said in Northern Ireland that he loves playing in great atmospheres having missed it when the sport was behind closed doors. There is no better atmosphere than in this venue.
Zhao Xintong
The snooker world has known about Zhao Xintong for a number of years and everyone got to know about him at the UK Championship last month when he cruised his way to his first major ranking title in devastating style. Xintong is a player with so much talent that when he flows like he did in York he is incredibly easy on the eye and looks a million dollars. As with all youngsters who make a major breakthrough, his next task is to prove to everyone it wasn’t a fluke.
Xintong gets an immediate chance to do that here. He has played a tournament since he won the UK Championship and was beaten in the first round of the World Grand Prix but this is a whole different level to that. This is his debut in this tournament and he will be making it in front of a massive crowd so we will find all about his temperament here. We know he has the game to win this match but the question is whether he can do it in this environment.
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Head to Head
These two men have met on six previous occasions and it will probably be a surprise to some to hear that they are locked at 3-3. Higgins does have a narrow edge in the frame count though with 23 on his side to 21 of Xintong. Those statistics were in the favour of Higgins until Xintong won their last two meetings, including at the UK Championship last month. The pair have met over the best of 11 frames on two occasions. Higgins won their first while Xintong levelled up with that win in York. This will be their first meeting at The Masters.
Betting
Zhao Xintong blew us all away at York last month and he is going to be an absolute superstar but this is going to be a real test for the Chinese sensation. He isn’t just playing one of the best players in the world who is playing some really consistent snooker at the minute but he is playing in an arena which is alien to him and although he wasn’t terrible in his match on Sunday, we have already seen Yan Bingtao lose to a veteran in similar circumstances this week.
I’ve no doubt Xintong will be a superstar and the beauty of his win in the UK Championship is it guarantees him two years in the big events getting used to tournaments like this which carry an extra prestige and intensity. We see it all the time that debutants freeze here. It is a difficult place to play when you are not used to it and so I can see Zhao struggling just enough for John Higgins to get on top and there aren’t many better frontrunners than him in the game. He can last home to win by at least two.
Tips
WON – Back J.Higgins (-1.5 frames) to beat Z.Xintong for a 3/10 stake at 1.95 with William Hill
Back him here:
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