John Higgins has reached a second consecutive snooker final after beating Ding Junhui in the semi final of the Champion of Champions this afternoon.
Both players came out fighting this afternoon, none more than Ding who made four centuries in total in the match. Not only was Ding making the biggest breaks, but he also played the better safety, pot success and long potting, yet still lost the match.
It just goes to show how good of a match snooker player John Higgins really is to beat Ding playing so well. Higgins was dead level at 2-2 going into the interval. This pattern continued throughout the match with neither player pulling more than one frame ahead.
At 5-4 down to Ding, Higgins must of thought his chance had gone especially as Ding was in amonst the balls. A roll behind the brown went wrong for Ding, missing the snooker which was the turning point of the match. From there on, it was all about Higgins.
In the final frame, Ding broke but left a long red poking out which Higgins potted. From there Higgins made a 40 break before missing an easy blue. A couple of shots later Higgins was presented another chance which he converted into the match winning break he needed to secure his place in the final.
John Higgins must be on a high at present after winning a whopping £200,000 last week in the China Championship and now finding himself in another final less than a week later. This is by far the best snooker John Higgins has played in a couple of years and he can enjoy being back at his very best.
Tonight is the other semi final between Ronnie O’Sullivan and Mark Allen which will be another cracker. The momentum is with Allen as he is playing better snooker than Ronnie, but you can never rule out the most gifted player to ever pick up a snooker cue.
