Snooker: Higgins Takes a Fantastic Final
Mark Selby pushed Higgins all the way in the 888.com World Snooker Championship Final. In a great match that swayed both ways over 2 days, Higgins finally managed to pull himself and his game together for the last four frames that took him to the title.
Higgins deserved the victory and Selby was a great runner-up. He made Higgins fight all the way and is now certainly a big name for the future.
Selby's display of cue power was awesome but he didn't quite manage to buzz the same way he did when he knocked in his 3 consecutive centuries earlier in the tournament. Selby was really looking to grind out the victory and I thought he might do it as Higgins, for me, looked the more tired of the two players.
Higgins said Selby put up and great fight and played great, he also said that when he played Selby two years ago, "he wasn't that good!" :-) a comment much appreciated by Selby who played the whole match in good spirits. But last year Selby beat Higgins and Higgins said he could see that Selby was a different class of player. Over these last 2 weeks, Selby's shown himself to be a different class again.
The last word has to go to Higgins, he's always been a class player who came onto the professional stage at the same time as O'Sullivan. He beat Ronnie to their first titles and look to move on quickly to becoming a dominant force in the game. For various reasons, probably only known to him, it didn't happen. He's a truly great player that I think hasn't achieved to his full potential over the last 10 years, but I'm really happy to see him back at the top where he belongs. I think he's got more World titles in him, and although I've lost money with him winning this year, I hope to see him winning a lot more titles in the future.
I may edit this article a little more tomorrow, but that's about it from this season's snooker on greenbaize, but add us to your news readers using the red XML or RSS links to the top right of this page and we'll be updating the site regularly with Cue Sports News! We'll keep you informed with the gossip and other non-ranking (as well as ranking) snooker events. Jonni will be blogging on the Eurotour and we will be posting interviews with players.
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2 comments:
A great comeback by Selby, but Higgins played very well win it. It ended up being a bit of a marathon final, and it might have gone differently if the afternoon session wasn't cut short at a time when things weren't going well for Higgins. But fair play to him for turning his game around just enough in the evening.
Kudos to Selby who has been mightily impressive for the whole tournament. For someone of his experience, the standard of his play and his consistency has been amazing. I was especially impressed how he won the last 3 frames to beat Murphy - his quality under pressure was in stark contrast to the more experienced Stephen Maguire who crumbled embarrassingly at the end of the other semi.
Even in the final, Selby's potting and safety remained at a very high standard for all of Sunday, and but for a the run of a few balls, he could have got in front. It's a credit to Higgins that his unrivaled all-round matchplay was what won him the match, and I doubt anyone else could have overcome Selby's valiant efforts.
It will be interesting to see how Selby's career progresses. He has an unusual style (I just don't get that swaying from side to side over the cue...) but he will do great things if he keeps playing to such a high standard.
Yeah a Maguire Murphy final would have been interesting as it's been documented Maguire hates Murphy.
I just think it's great to have a true character like Selby in the top 16. You don't see many players with quips and jokes these days!
Andy
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