00:00The last of the afternoon and now is halfway to the title. Still a long way to go.
01:02well the sting has been taken out of the match already for the evening session and that
01:06as i say for the vast experience john higgins is going to be possibly playing into his hands but
01:13what i will say is that jiao zin tong last night he had a very similar match over 11 frames
01:20against
01:20mark allen where he he blew hot and cold really allen led all the way until five all and then
01:26he
01:26he won the decider so he has got the ability to stay with it and hope that things will change
01:34his temperament is not to be questioned i don't think
01:41but the point is the edge is off his game and john higgins has got another chance here so
01:50his form has been blunted a bit
01:54it's felt like the need to take that on but of course you take it on you've got to get
01:59it
02:08thanks
02:12one
02:34six
02:37higgins won this title five years ago he thrashed ronnie o'sullivan in the final
02:46seven
03:06and with a tournament like this
03:10inevitably you're going to have a tough draw because it's the top 16
03:13as higgins shakes his head looks like he may not be on anything there but if he does win he'll
03:18certainly have earned it neil robertson judd trump the world number one and the world champion in the
03:24final that's still a long way
03:27to go before he can think about that i'm not sure if he's on that way it'd be nice to
03:31see a low angle
03:32actually and because he was shaking his head
03:36let's see if that red does go to the left corner they'll be looking at
04:06well it's come to uh... understanding that that red does it
04:09not go didn't quite get to see it close up but to have to take his word for it
05:06well he's taking this red on a tool here this is another difficulty
05:09one he just missed one to the opposite but not this time
05:20power or sort of ambition I don't think I mean he could have finished on a red of course
05:27now he's got a bit of what you might call a cold arm at the moment in other words he's
05:31not getting any shots now he's got to find something immediately he's got to drum up
05:36a frame winning chance here it's another example of how fearless he is though I mean that opening
05:42red was very missable and he was leaving plenty had he missed it yeah but also a sign of his
05:48temperament
05:49because he missed a similar shot to the left middle hadn't he just before and didn't deter him
05:54from going for the other one
06:0210
06:04it's strange isn't it because in some ways
06:07Xiao is still relatively wet behind the ears in big matches like this even though he's a world and
06:13UK champion this is his fifth final he's playing someone who's in his 60th ranking final
06:2111 but you still feel as though and he has said himself this season there's plenty still to learn
06:28he's talked about trying to find greater consistency
06:36the sky is the limit isn't it
06:38i think he's learning i really do i think you'll you know the point it's one thing to say all
06:42those
06:42things and as you say he has made it clear he wants to learn but i think he is learning
06:46from people like john let's be honest he's made a
06:5190 career out of being a great player and making it difficult for their opponent
06:56and jintong has got a fairly good safety game i'm not saying he's mark selby just yet
07:0926
07:1827
07:3634
07:4235
07:4735
08:0342
08:1143
08:1243
08:120
08:28well this is where he's good he doesn't stop playing the big shot there he played the beautiful cannon
08:32he could have played up the table on the loose red and extended the lead but he actually thought this
08:37is the shot that wins me the frame
08:4151
08:43and this is almost an understanding of what the afternoon session was like to an extent i mean john didn't
08:50win
08:5147 minute frames you know he played better himself but
08:55you feel that
08:57john's biggest worry
08:5858
08:59yeah he's just gonna get loose isn't he in frames
09:03and uh
09:04and
09:05put them
09:06put them away quickly
09:0659
09:08and it's so difficult
09:10to keep him down isn't it
09:12we saw that
09:12we saw that with the red that he negotiated at the start of this break very tricky into the center
09:17acute angle
09:19leaving
09:19plenty
09:20had he missed but he didn't
09:2260
09:23and he backs himself with those shots he won't get all of them
09:2566
09:27he has so much belief in his game
09:30he expects to get them
09:3167
09:33and that shot is one in the frame
09:35it's never looked in doubt really
09:36since he got in
09:5073 snookers for Higgins so this is definitely going to be five each
09:59yes
10:00yes you feel that you know he's the more likely to win frames in one visit now john is
10:04you know he's made it
10:09the centuries of all his career he's made big breaks this week
10:12done a lot of things but you still feel of the two that this man is more dangerous
10:18the two players
10:19it's as simple as that right now anyway it feels that way
10:2581
10:27we've had 20 centuries in Telford this week we've yet to have one in the final
10:31this could be the moment if you can get on to the red
10:34colors are waiting
10:37and of course Xiao owns the highest break of the week
10:40a 1-4-2 against Sean Murphy
10:44I didn't want to cannon the brown so he's going to have to go some to make a century now
10:5888
10:59the highest break of the final from the world champion
11:03who levels up in style excellent opening red
11:06the
11:06the
11:06the
11:06the
11:06the
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