Bet of the day: John Higgins beats Mark Selby in China
Lee Gormley | October 29, 2015
- John Higgins cruised to 6-0 whitewash of Shaun Murphy
- The Scot has won two of the last three matches with Mark Selby
- Selby comes in off the back of narrow Neil Robertson win
Higgins 6/4 to overcome Selby
Snooker’s International Championship continues in China at the semi-final stage, and Coral’s bet of the day comes at this exciting point of the competition, with four-time world champion John Higgins 6/4 to overcome Mark Selby.
The sublime Scottish potter is in fine form during this annual event in Asia, having recently dispatched this year’s Masters champion Shaun Murphy with an emphatic 6-0 whitewash in their Daqing duel.
In an impressive baize performance, ‘the Wizard of Wishaw’ rallied to victory without dropping a single frame against the tournament’s sixth seed Murphy, with the latter being unable to even register a point in three frames.
Higgins in great form
Veteran cueist Higgins now comes up against Leicester’s former world champion Selby, and he will be confident of continuing his rampant run, after coming through his quarter-final encounter with ‘the Gentleman’ Joe Perry with a 6-3 win.
During the Murphy and Perry triumphs, Higgins stylishly stormed to century breaks of 138 and 106 respectively, proving his form with the cue will take some stopping on Chinese soil.
‘The Jester from Leicester’ is the man who must next face this in-form Scotsman in their International Championship semi-final encounter, but he has failed to thwart such a strong threat in two of their last three meetings since 2011.
Recent history favours Scot
Selby also holds plenty of bitter memories from previous encounters with circuit veteran Higgins, with the 2014 Crucible champion having lost in the 2007 world final to his next opponent, making the Scot’s 6/4 odds extremely tempting.
World number one Selby managed to edge past Australian potter Neil Robertson in his quarter-final liaison, but will face a tougher test against a more knowledgeable serial-winner in the form of 40-year-old Higgins.
Selby also overcame Welsh talent Michael White earlier in the competition, but has yet to perform to his best ahead of his Higgins rendezvous in China, with the latter having also impressed against Michael Holt, Zhao Xintong and, of course, a helpless ‘Magician’ Murphy.
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