Woollaston to contest Welsh Final with Higgins

Ben Woollaston has made it into his first ever ranking event final at the Welsh Open, and in the final he will play one of his boyhood hero's in John Higgins at the Motorpoint Arena in Cardiff. The pair both came through tight semi-finals over the best-of-11 frames to set up this best-of-17 encounter today, and it should be a very exciting and nervy occasion for both as Higgins hasn't won a ranking title for two and a half years, and an even been in a ranking event final for a year and a half. Ben Woollaston meanwhile, has far less experience in these big matches, as his best performance in a full ranking event prior to this week was the quarter-finals.

John Higgins saw off another young player in new found territory as he took on Luca Brecel in Luca's first ever ranking event semi-final. John started with consecutive centuries and could've gone 3-0 in front had he potted the last red down the cushion, but when Brecel cleared that helped him settle and a good break in frame four had the match level at 2-2 at the interval. Brecel won a scrappy fifth to make it three frames in a row, but John Higgins looked like he'd take control when he turned it around to lead 4-3. While Brecel levelled again, a poor safety left Higgins right in in frame nine, and a superb 135 could've been even better had he have potted the final black to make a 142 and steal the high break in the tournament from Luca. Higgins needed a few chances to kill it off, but when Brecel missed a black with Higgins only needing one more red, that was that and John was into the final with a 6-4 win.

The second semi-final was another pendulum affair between Ben Woollaston and home favourite Mark Williams. Mark looked very nervy in the early stages, and a couple of good breaks helped Ben to capitalise and take a 3-1 lead at the mid-session break. Mark went on to the practice tables in that break to find some form, and Ben started to look under some big pressure as a big break in frame five, while a big steal in frame six in a frame Ben should've won saw and it was all square at 3-3. That didn't faze Ben though as he won the next two to lead 5-3 and go one away fro his first ever ranking final. The fact that this was the case soon started to tell as Ben missed several good chances, including a huge chance on the colours on frame ten to kill off the match but Williams won it to force the decider. Again, Ben needed two chances in the decider but after he wasn't punished for his miss and let back in immediately, he made a superb break under pressure and held it all together nicely to win the match 6-5 and knock out the last Welsh hope.

Final Preview

John Higgins Vs Ben Woollaston - If you look at the history of these two players and how many titles John Higgins has won in his career (including this tournament three times) and the fact that Ben Woollaston had never even made a ranking event semi-final before this week, you have to say that Higgins is a strong favourite. Although, Higgins hasn't won a big ranking title in two and a half years and four years since winning a ranking event in the UK. One thing you have to say about the Scot though, is that in his semi-final against Luca Brecel he looked thoroughly back to his brilliant best, and he has also showed that at several other points in this week, and that all he needed to do was put together a consistent week to win another ranking title, because even though he'd gone missing from the winners circle a bit in the last couple of years, his brilliance was still there but he just couldn't find it consistently.

Ben Woollaston deserves to be in this final 100% given the way he's played this week, the players he's beaten and the way he has scored throughout the week. Having seen off Mark Davis, Mark Allen, Ali Carter and Mark Williams he's showed his class and talent and confirmed that he can do it on the big stage in a big ranking event, and not only in the minor European Tour events. The obvious thing that is going to hamper him in this final, is the thing that very nearly cost him the match last night and that was nerves and pressure. Ben won't be used to the nerves and pressure of turning up on the Sunday of a ranking event to contest the final of it over the best-of-17 frames, in front of a sell out crowd. Meanwhile, John Higgins will have this experience in bags, and while he'll obviously still be affected with the nerves, you'd also think he can deal with these and get off to a good start. For me, Ben has to be no worse than 4-4 after the first session of eight frames this afternoon, because if he gives John Higgins any kind of lead here he could go from strength to strength, sensing his chance and possibly demolishing Woollaston. What Woollaston can't afford to do is succumb to the nerves and pressure in the opening frames and miss many easy ones because again, Higgins has that experience to punish him big time and it could be 4-0 at the interval and end up at 6-2 at the end of session, which would be game over. A strong start for Woollaston today is a must for him to have any chance of taking the title.

Prediction: 9-5 win for John Higgins


It should be a good final, between two players that thoroughly deserve to be in it, and of course the snooker keeps on coming thick and fast at this time in the season, so the loser won't have too much time to be disappointed with the Gdynia Open European Tour event 6 starting on Friday.