00:02So we're now down to a best of seven for the title
00:06Ciao to get us back underway
00:13It's their 12th meeting
00:15And that's an inauspicious start to the final mini-session
00:20Catching the blue, potting the blue off the break
00:22That's pretty unusual
00:26Yeah, I've seen it before but it doesn't happen very often, does it?
00:30I do think that, I think it was in the UK Championship a couple of years ago
00:33The strangest one was where Stuart Bingham potted the black off the break
00:36And I have never seen that before in all the years
00:45But, you know, again, it's
00:48Ciao just cannot shake John Higgins off
00:52And if John gets in first here, that will be
00:55You know, his way of keeping that trend going
00:57But he's got to stretch
00:59He's got an extension on his cue, I think
01:12I have to say, I fancied him to pot that
01:14And he got nowhere near it
01:16But look where the balls are finished
01:18It's unbelievable, isn't it?
01:19The way this match is kind of
01:23Taking the same pattern all the time
01:25It's been an odd game today
01:28These 12 frames
01:55Let's go to the next one
02:06Chow's entitled to think he might have a reasonable chance of scoring there,
02:10but Higgins got away with the miss.
02:12I mean, he missed the red by a mile, didn't he, Higgins?
02:15This could be a re-rack.
02:16I mean, I don't know where we're going to get with this.
02:25I'm going to play more of those deliberate miscues,
02:27but you can still play a push shot on those sometimes.
02:34I mean, I don't see how that can be anything but a push shot, really.
02:38I mean, I'm not saying it was an intentional one,
02:41but the balls were incredibly close together there.
02:57I can only assume that was called for a push shot.
03:06It looked less of a push shot than the previous one to me,
03:08but when the balls are close like that, I'm sure Marcel is right.
03:14He's an excellent referee.
03:27Now, this plant is getting him in.
03:30There's value in it.
03:31The two reds are wide apart.
03:37Oh, he's got...
03:38Goodness me, that was a horror plant.
03:42What has he done there?
03:46That was one of the worst shots I've seen John play for a while.
03:50It was a difficult plant.
03:51It made it look impossible.
03:54Eight.
04:10Eight.
04:18Nine.
04:20Nine.
04:21Nine.
04:3216
04:4217
04:44Chau has made most of the breaks in this final
04:4662, 61, 81, 88 and 83 to level at 6 all
04:57begins with 83 and 90
05:0524
05:1225
05:16Yeah I mean that's the point isn't it
05:17there's no doubt who the biggest scorer is
05:20I know that you know John Higgins over his career
05:21has made it what is it 1057
05:24centuries so I'm not talking about
05:26over a lifetime I'm talking about right
05:28now you know the biggest
05:30scorer is the man at the table
05:3432
05:35and the most dangerous or the more dangerous of the two
05:37anyway but John's got other
05:39things to fall back
05:42on albeit
05:43he has played two very poor shots
05:45this frame that ready missed and the plan was
05:49completely
05:49got wrong
05:5833
05:59left hand side staying on the black
06:01thank you
06:21for see
06:35Xiao Xin Tan
06:3740
06:38It's kind of in the pattern of the match
06:40Just when
06:41Xiao was threatened to start
06:43To really turn it on
06:44The odd error
06:46Has stopped him in his tracks
06:48It happened when he was on 44
06:50In that frame when he missed the black
06:52Higgins ended up winning the frame
06:55That was the worst one though
06:56Wasn't it Philip
06:57The worst one he's missed there
06:58I mean he was doing nothing there
06:59Just rolling it in on the blue
07:02There was
07:02You know sometimes you can understand
07:04Why a ball is missed
07:05But really there
07:06You should never miss that red
07:14One
07:15John's just got to drag himself back now
07:17As I say you're too bad
07:18Shot this frame
07:19But if he wins it
07:19That'll be forgotten
07:46Eight
08:10Mine
08:14He begins not thrilled
08:17With that positionally
08:20Wanted to be on the blue
08:21But he's gone too far
08:47Thank you
08:52You're going to be on the blue
08:53There's a lot of
08:5511.
09:29Well, he wasn't sure about that one.
09:30It was always heading towards the bottom jaw, but played slowly enough to drop.
10:15Martin.
10:5120.
10:54One of Higgins' better
10:56centre-pocket shots. He missed a series
11:00yesterday, most notably
11:02a few pinks, including
11:04match ball, which he did very well
11:06to recover from with a 65 break
11:08in the decider against Judd Trump
11:11who had led him back in by missing
11:12a red.
11:20That's not worked out.
11:21That is almost certainly
11:23the end of break. I can't think where another red could be
11:25that he could keep this break going with.
11:32It's been an oddity
11:33to this match, really. The balls have run
11:35not kindly, but
11:37also, we have to say that the players
11:39have missed a few.
11:40It hasn't been all
11:43bad running.
11:45For instance,
11:46I read early this frame
11:48that Jin Tong missed was pretty much
11:50to sit her, I thought, to middle.
12:10John Higgins, 25.
12:11Thanks.
13:13And as we were saying earlier, the breaks, which have won frames in a single visit, have often been from
13:17the world champion.
13:24Yeah, four of the six frames, showers one. Higgins hasn't scored.
13:41And he missed that red earlier on into that pocket, which was a whole lot easier.
13:45That was always going to be a tough one, wasn't it? It was the same kind of angle as the
13:50one he missed earlier, but he completely misjudged the other one.
13:55One.
13:58So another chance has come up and really there can be no excuse again for this.
14:03If he doesn't win the frame here, it's a golden chance.
14:08The reds in the middle of the table aren't really too badly placed because as soon as he takes the
14:12bottom right hand one, he'll move an opening for the red below the pink to the opposite pocket and keep
14:20on happening until there's none left on the table.
14:24Nine.
14:24So this is a great chance to lead. And he did lead earlier.
14:28Four, three. That's the only time.
14:44Sixteen.
14:46Sixteen.
14:53Seventeen.
14:57Seventeen.
14:59Seventeen.
14:59Seventeen.
14:59Seventeen.
15:04Seventeen.
15:14Seventeen.
15:19Seventeen.
15:25Seventeen.
15:31looking at the scoreboard
15:3231 the lead, 43 remaining
15:35with his colour to come
15:38so
15:38colour and red
15:40yeah and the angle on the pink
15:42he's not taking him right behind a red
15:44unless he takes a cube around the angles
15:47it seems, got to miss the green
15:49here
15:50which he's done
15:54not bad
15:57still not absolutely
15:59perfect but he's got an opportunity
16:02and
16:04when he
16:05play it into the bottom pocket
16:07plays it to middle then of course he
16:09maybe will leave a red on
16:11he'll be the first to know it right behind
16:13this
16:17it's kind of been the story of the
16:19session, they just can't deliver
16:2231
16:22I'm surprised he missed that one
16:26the way he punches
16:27the balls in, you see it wasn't
16:45going in
16:48done
16:48I've got a chance with that red being deposited by Higgins for him to steal
16:54the frame he looked very likely to lose
16:56just now
17:10well John's been clearing up like this for years hasn't he
17:1330 years
17:15and
17:17it would come as a surprise to me if he didn't do it again here quite honestly
17:20because you can see the importance of it
17:21he's not been in this frame
17:24but he might win it
17:25I don't think he's got the perfect angle here
17:36you have to play this well, he's a bit straight
17:38he's got a screw across and back down for the yellow
17:45played it with screwing
17:47right hand reverse side
17:49and he could not have played it better
17:50that's a terrific shot for Higgins
17:5116
17:5216
17:53so Zhao was one red away
17:56from retaking the lead in this final
17:58and now Higgins firm favourite to do that himself
18:0718
18:2321
18:3925
18:5730
19:05he played it well
19:07he had to make sure he was straight on this pick
19:08and that's exactly what he has done
19:13what a steal this is going to be
19:15and what a painful blow for the world champion
19:17I recall he did this a couple of times
19:19in his match against Chris Wakelin
19:21when he wasn't playing his best Higgins
19:22he stole a couple on the black
19:28and he's done it again in the final
19:30against the world champion
19:31Zhao Zintong
19:32who had frame ball red
19:33but rattled it
19:34into the jaws of the left corner
19:36and Higgins has done what he does
19:38and
19:38the point that
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