John Higgins was delighted to come through Group 7 of the Championship League on Wednesday evening, securing the final spot in the Winners’ Group which is played out over Thursday and Friday.
The Wizard of Wishaw won five of his six group stage games to progress to the semi-finals where he beat Kyren Wilson to set up a clash in the final with Ding Junhui.
It was an incredible finale to the group, with the first four frames shared as Higgins opened up with a break of 134, while Ding produced efforts of 101 and then 131 to force a decider.
The deciding frame was much tighter, with the Scot missing the final yellow as he looked to be wrapping things up, keeping things alive, but he eventually got over the line to win 3-2.
The four-time world champion was not only delighted to pick up the win, but was thrilled that his beloved football team had a good night as well.
‘It was brilliant to make matters sweeter I heard Celtic are beating Rangers 3-0. What a day it has been,’ he said.
‘I thought it was good in patches but in the end, we were both a bit edgy. I can’t believe I missed the yellow but then I got safe and then I thought Ding’s double was in, but it was in the knuckles. It was brilliant to come down and win this final.’
It was also good to see Ding return to some form, having slipped down to 30th in the rankings, while Wilson and Ali Carter were also impressive in reaching the semi-finals.
However, it wasn’t a couple of days to remember for Ronnie O’Sullivan who managed just two wins from his six games and fell short of making the knockout stage of the group.
The Rocket beat Ricky Walden and Ding, but lost to Carter, Higgins, Wilson and Martin Gould.
The trophy will be handed out on Friday evening at the climax of the Winners’ Group, contested by Higgins, Graeme Dott, Zhao Xintong, Scott Donaldson, Stuart Bingham, Yan Bingtao and Liang Wenbo.
Championship League Winners' Group schedule
Thursday 3 February
Table 1
From 11AM
John Higgins vs Graeme Dott
John Higgins vs Zhao Xintong
Zhao Xintong vs Stuart Bingham
Not Before 4.30PM
John Higgins vs Stuart Bingham
Stuart Bingham vs Graeme Dott
Graeme Dott vs Liang Wenbo
Table 2
From 11AM
Stuart Bingham vs Yan Bingtao
Liang Wenbo vs Scott Donaldson
Graeme Dott vs Scott Donaldson
Not Before 4.30PM
Yan Bingtao vs Liang Wenbo
Zhao Xintong vs Yan Bingtao
John Higgins vs Scott Donaldson
Friday 4 February
Table 1
From 11AM
Yan Bingtao vs Scott Donaldson
Yan Bingtao vs Graeme Dott
Zhao Xintong vs Graeme Dott
John Higgins vs Liang Wenbo
Not Before 4.30PM
Zhao Xintong vs Scott Donaldson
Table 2
From 11AM
Zhao Xintong vs Liang Wenbo
Stuart Bingham vs Liang Wenbo
Stuart Bingham vs Scott Donaldson
Not Before 4.30PM
John Higgins vs Yan Bingtao
Semi-finals
MORE : Zhao Xintong reveals what he told Yan Bingtao midway through German Masters whitewash
MORE : Ronnie O’Sullivan and John Higgins join star-studded Championship League snooker group
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