Adam Williams presents his prediction for the Players Championship match.
Xiao Guodong and John Higgins won their matches only in the deciding frame and will now play each other in the quarter-finals of the Players Championship.
Xiao Guodong
Xiao Guodong beat Wu Yize (6-5) in a tough match. Xiao was (3-1) down but managed to level the score after the interval and made a winning break of 73 in the deciding frame. In total, Guodong made five half-centuries in the match, and Xiao’s best break was 73. We like the way Xiao has been playing this part of the season; a lot of wins have helped Guodong to get into the top 16, so Xiao will be in the World Championship for the first time in seven years, and for the first time in his career without qualifying matches. These thoughts should help Guodong to play well without pressure and show his best game.
John Higgins
John Higgins had a very tough and gruelling match against Chris Wakelin. John was 4-2 down but drew level at 5-5. In the deciding frame, Wakelin made a break of 51, but John stole the frame and took the game. John’s best break of the match was only 61, which is very low. We don’t know why John played so badly, but if he doesn’t improve his game, he will lose to Xiao. Higgins had tough matches at the World Grand Prix with Ali Carter, Kyren Wilson and Shaun Murphy. Maybe John is a little tired, and that’s why his game isn’t fresh enough. There will be a week off after this tournament, so John will have time to recover, but now he needs to do his best to reach the final.
Xiao Guodong vs John Higgins Prediction
Both players played all eleven frames in the first match, but Xiao Guodong played his match at a higher level and made more breaks. In recent years, Guodong and John have only played against each other in the short-format Championship League, but we can’t draw any conclusions from these games. And if we look at the last matches this season, John Higgins has better results, but there are many difficult matches with difficult endings to frames. We think that if the match with Xiao is the same, Guodong will have a slight advantage.
