Chinalife Xingpai Hainan Classic 2011 - John Higgins reaches the final

Higgins pots his way through the final

It’s morning, at least in this part of Europe, but in China things are getting ready for the two semi-finals of this weekend. One of them was already finished, but we have another one to delight our hungry eyes for snooker :-))


John Higgins and Ali Carter started their battle in the presence of many fans that came especially to see the boys of snooker perform at their best. And they weren’t disappointed for both of them put quite a show in a high quality match.
The first to break the ice was Higgins, but Carter’s 85 clearance was leveling the score and that was going to be the rule for some while. During the 3rd frame, the Captain missed a red but entered the pack of reds leaving Higgins with a good position to attack, but he was fortunate enough because the Scot missed a tricky red and Carter was able to come back at the table and hit a 76 as to go 2-1 up.
If Ali made a 76 it was impetuously necessary that John would hit a similar break (at least that’s how it seemed :-)) ) so "The Wizard of Wishaw" hit a 76 as to level up the score, only to see the Captain fly one more frame away from him, due to a 73 break. But that was going to Ali`s last time.


Although the 6th frame started with Higgins missing a red at 19, the Scotsman recovered pretty quickly as to hit a marvelous 98 and draw at 3-3; and that wasn’t going to be the last time we’ve seen Higgins win a frame, because he also cashed the following one. It all started with Ali potting the cue ball by mistake, Higgins missing unexpectedly the blue at just 16 points and Ali being forced to stop at 15 due to a tremendous kick. The bad luck was starting to mess with our Captain. 

"Oh Lordy....I`m losing this match!" :-(

John had yet another chance, but overcut a black as he was building himself a nice and steady break (a 27, to be more precise). So at 47-15, in favor of the Scotsman, the Essex boy still had chances to win this. Unfortunately for him he missed a long red, due to a distraction, most likely, for after he missed that shot he rose his cue and made such a angry face at someone near the table.


Being in the lead for the second time since the beginning of the match, Higgins hit a strategic 65 break as to leave Carter in need of two snookers. However, the little yet powerful man from Essex succeeded in obtaining his first snooker, but he overcut a black, and decided to conceal the match.
So, here we are snooker lovers, Higgins wins 5-3 over Carter and he is the first name to reach the final.


The second semi-final will start at 11am (UK time) and will feature Jamie Cope and Graeme Dott. If Graeme wins this, we shall have another "all Scottish" final, the second one since the Welsh Open :-))
Best of luck to both lads and see you later on today for the second story of the second semi-final ;-)