Tweet
Originally Posted by Odrl
View Post
Here we are then, only the World final remains...
I don't watch the World Championship in the hope that any particular player wins, my only hope is to see snooker played at its highest possible level and to see a couple of matches that might live in the memory as all-time classics. Unfortunately the draw often works out in such a way that the final can be a bit of an anti-climax, but I think we've avoided that danger on this occasion. I guess the dream final before the Championship would have been Selby-Trump, a match between the dominant player of the season and his nearest (though still distant) rival. Well, I think Selby-Higgins comes pretty damn close, and it should be a great finale to what has been an interesting season.
Whenever we talk about this pairing, we inevitably have to go back to the 2007 World final... I guess history will remember it as a final between two all-time greats, two players who will have won seven World titles between them after tomorrow, but of course things looked a little different ten years ago. It's funny if you think about it now, since 2007 isn't exactly ancient history, but at the time Higgins and Selby actually only had one World title between them. Selby in particular was a fairly unknown player on the big stage. He had reached a ranking final before, back when he was still a teenager, but he had a couple of fairly quiet seasons before 2007. He was basically a solid top32 player who was expected to eventually make some sort of breakthrough, but I don't think many people expected him to have the kind of career he has gone on to have. There isn't really a good comparison with anyone from this year's Championship, but I would say that Xiao Guodong perhaps comes closest. If I think about it now, I wasn't particularly excited before the 2007 final. The Championship as whole was a really good one that year, so I was afraid the final would be a little anti-climactic. I thought it would either be the favourite winning in unremarkable fashion, or a big underdog winning for the third year in a row (after Murphy and Dott), and the idea of another major shock didn't really appeal to me, because I wanted the top players to produce their best snooker in the most important tournament of the season. In all honesty, I wouldn't have given Selby the kind of credit he would have deserved had he won that year, I would have probably put it down to Higgins bottling it more than anything else. Back then I didn't really know what Selby was about. I'd seen him play lots of times, but he never really stood out to me as someone who had an exceptional safety game or was particularly strong mentally. He ended up playing a big part in that final though. It was Higgins who dominated the opening day, playing a superb second session, as he so often does, and pulling away to 12-4. But the following afternoon was a bit of a nightmare for him, a slow grind during which he seemed to spend most of the time in his chair looking half asleep, and Selby won all six frames that were played. It eventually went as close as 14-13 in the evening, but then Higgins found the extra gear he was looking for and pulled away to win. As I said, my expectations weren't all that high ahead of the match, but it ended up being one of the highlights of what I would regard as probably the most entertaining World Championship I have ever had the pleasure of watching.
Of course the climax of the Higgins-Selby rivalry came two years later, when they met in the quarter-finals of the 2009 World Championship, this time as two of the very best players in the world. Selby was already at the kind of level that meant there wasn't a clear favourite in the match, and of course it did end up going all the way. Selby opened with three centuries, Higgins responded with some one-visit snooker of his own to take a 4-3 lead, and after that there was almost never more than a frame between them. Some of the tactical stuff was brilliant as well, probably the best match I have ever seen in that regard. For me that match was the real final that year, and it remains one of my all-time favourite matches. Higgins had a slight edge at that point, but since then things have slowly shifted in Selby's favour. Understandable of course, as Higgins is one of the game's veterans at this point, whereas Selby has now reached his absolute prime. And what a prime it is... Six years as world number one, with a chance to win his third World title in four years. If he wins here, he will have won the three biggest ranking titles of the season, plus the China Open which may very well be the fourth biggest, and he has a final in Shanghai to go with it as well. It would be the biggest domination snooker has seen since Mark Williams in 2003, and bigger than O'Sullivan and Higgins have ever produced in single seasons. I think Selby's will to win is unrivalled at this point in time, even in the China Open he was really up for it, despite all of his recent success. His game is extremely solid in all departments, he can win one-visit scoring duels like he did against O'Sullivan in the UK final, or he can win slow and tactical grinds, without ever losing his patience or composure. I think the 2007 final finished well after 1am CET, and I don't think Selby would particularly mind a repeat of that, because he has shown time and time again that he is the king of midnight snooker. At the same time, he could easily find his top scoring game and pull away to win much earlier.
On the other hand, John Higgins really only has one gameplan. At his best, he plays a kind of "textbook" snooker, dominating the early safety in frames, then making strong scoring contributions whenever he gets in. Most of the best wins of his career have been very "clean", in the sense that the snooker was of a high quality and very enjoyable to watch. Sometimes the opponent has other ideas though, but Higgins has such a solid all round game that he can handle any situation, and his mental strength throughout his career has been on par with Selby's. I think most people are expecting him to lose this match. In all honesty, so do I, but how often does Higgins put in a poor performance in a major final? His win percentage is admirable, not just in finals, but converting semi-finals into titles as well. He lost 9-4 in the Scottish Open final this season, and I think that was the first time in many many years that he has lost by more than just a couple of frames. He will be up for this one, make no mistake. I just wonder how he will deal with being the underdog here, because in most finals he has played he was either a clear favourite or at least on par with his opponent, even during the last couple of years when his status in the game had declined a little. Also, does he have the stamina to put in a strong performance over two days? If he played like he did against Allen, I think he would be extremely tough to beat, but of course his performance against Hawkins was far away from that. I just hope that playing someone as strong as Selby will give him the boost of energy he needs to compete with him, because we know that Selby himself is pretty immune to fatigue these days, mental or physical...
For the record, my prediction is that Selby will win 18-14, but as always, I'm just hoping for an all-time classic and hopefully a midnight finish. :smile:
I don't watch the World Championship in the hope that any particular player wins, my only hope is to see snooker played at its highest possible level and to see a couple of matches that might live in the memory as all-time classics. Unfortunately the draw often works out in such a way that the final can be a bit of an anti-climax, but I think we've avoided that danger on this occasion. I guess the dream final before the Championship would have been Selby-Trump, a match between the dominant player of the season and his nearest (though still distant) rival. Well, I think Selby-Higgins comes pretty damn close, and it should be a great finale to what has been an interesting season.
Whenever we talk about this pairing, we inevitably have to go back to the 2007 World final... I guess history will remember it as a final between two all-time greats, two players who will have won seven World titles between them after tomorrow, but of course things looked a little different ten years ago. It's funny if you think about it now, since 2007 isn't exactly ancient history, but at the time Higgins and Selby actually only had one World title between them. Selby in particular was a fairly unknown player on the big stage. He had reached a ranking final before, back when he was still a teenager, but he had a couple of fairly quiet seasons before 2007. He was basically a solid top32 player who was expected to eventually make some sort of breakthrough, but I don't think many people expected him to have the kind of career he has gone on to have. There isn't really a good comparison with anyone from this year's Championship, but I would say that Xiao Guodong perhaps comes closest. If I think about it now, I wasn't particularly excited before the 2007 final. The Championship as whole was a really good one that year, so I was afraid the final would be a little anti-climactic. I thought it would either be the favourite winning in unremarkable fashion, or a big underdog winning for the third year in a row (after Murphy and Dott), and the idea of another major shock didn't really appeal to me, because I wanted the top players to produce their best snooker in the most important tournament of the season. In all honesty, I wouldn't have given Selby the kind of credit he would have deserved had he won that year, I would have probably put it down to Higgins bottling it more than anything else. Back then I didn't really know what Selby was about. I'd seen him play lots of times, but he never really stood out to me as someone who had an exceptional safety game or was particularly strong mentally. He ended up playing a big part in that final though. It was Higgins who dominated the opening day, playing a superb second session, as he so often does, and pulling away to 12-4. But the following afternoon was a bit of a nightmare for him, a slow grind during which he seemed to spend most of the time in his chair looking half asleep, and Selby won all six frames that were played. It eventually went as close as 14-13 in the evening, but then Higgins found the extra gear he was looking for and pulled away to win. As I said, my expectations weren't all that high ahead of the match, but it ended up being one of the highlights of what I would regard as probably the most entertaining World Championship I have ever had the pleasure of watching.
Of course the climax of the Higgins-Selby rivalry came two years later, when they met in the quarter-finals of the 2009 World Championship, this time as two of the very best players in the world. Selby was already at the kind of level that meant there wasn't a clear favourite in the match, and of course it did end up going all the way. Selby opened with three centuries, Higgins responded with some one-visit snooker of his own to take a 4-3 lead, and after that there was almost never more than a frame between them. Some of the tactical stuff was brilliant as well, probably the best match I have ever seen in that regard. For me that match was the real final that year, and it remains one of my all-time favourite matches. Higgins had a slight edge at that point, but since then things have slowly shifted in Selby's favour. Understandable of course, as Higgins is one of the game's veterans at this point, whereas Selby has now reached his absolute prime. And what a prime it is... Six years as world number one, with a chance to win his third World title in four years. If he wins here, he will have won the three biggest ranking titles of the season, plus the China Open which may very well be the fourth biggest, and he has a final in Shanghai to go with it as well. It would be the biggest domination snooker has seen since Mark Williams in 2003, and bigger than O'Sullivan and Higgins have ever produced in single seasons. I think Selby's will to win is unrivalled at this point in time, even in the China Open he was really up for it, despite all of his recent success. His game is extremely solid in all departments, he can win one-visit scoring duels like he did against O'Sullivan in the UK final, or he can win slow and tactical grinds, without ever losing his patience or composure. I think the 2007 final finished well after 1am CET, and I don't think Selby would particularly mind a repeat of that, because he has shown time and time again that he is the king of midnight snooker. At the same time, he could easily find his top scoring game and pull away to win much earlier.
On the other hand, John Higgins really only has one gameplan. At his best, he plays a kind of "textbook" snooker, dominating the early safety in frames, then making strong scoring contributions whenever he gets in. Most of the best wins of his career have been very "clean", in the sense that the snooker was of a high quality and very enjoyable to watch. Sometimes the opponent has other ideas though, but Higgins has such a solid all round game that he can handle any situation, and his mental strength throughout his career has been on par with Selby's. I think most people are expecting him to lose this match. In all honesty, so do I, but how often does Higgins put in a poor performance in a major final? His win percentage is admirable, not just in finals, but converting semi-finals into titles as well. He lost 9-4 in the Scottish Open final this season, and I think that was the first time in many many years that he has lost by more than just a couple of frames. He will be up for this one, make no mistake. I just wonder how he will deal with being the underdog here, because in most finals he has played he was either a clear favourite or at least on par with his opponent, even during the last couple of years when his status in the game had declined a little. Also, does he have the stamina to put in a strong performance over two days? If he played like he did against Allen, I think he would be extremely tough to beat, but of course his performance against Hawkins was far away from that. I just hope that playing someone as strong as Selby will give him the boost of energy he needs to compete with him, because we know that Selby himself is pretty immune to fatigue these days, mental or physical...
For the record, my prediction is that Selby will win 18-14, but as always, I'm just hoping for an all-time classic and hopefully a midnight finish. :smile:
I don't know where you found the energy to write all that.
Great post!
Comment