By Elliott West
Introduction
The Cazoo Tour Championship is definitely one of the highlights of the snooker tour calendar and like a fine wine, it has to be savoured. On the opening day of play, snooker fans were treated to a clash of two players that just ooze class, those being Scotland’s John Higgins and Zhao Xintong. Xintong has already passed the hour of cometh the man, having won the UK Championship and the German Masters in style. So this match was always going to be a cracker from start to finish.
Leading 5-3 at the end of the afternoon session, Zhao looked the stronger of the two players and with a first to ten frame format, it looked highly plausible that this Chinese player could reap the benefits of this match. However, what was to follow in the evening session kept snooker fans glued to their seats and television screens until the last ball was potted at almost the midnight hour.
The Comeback
John Higgins frankly looked spent and somewhat tired and confused as he slugged it out in the evening session. His opponent was all him and he frankly missed too many easy balls. At 8-4 down, it looked like John was on the ropes and floundering. Then the trip switch flicked and from nowhere the Scot made up the deficit and it was Zhao who started to struggle, not being able to make those required winning breaks where they mattered.
At 9-9, this was clearly a match that Zhao should have won comfortably before it came to this endgame. Xintong made too many errors in the deciding frame and it was his reckless and failed attempt at a four-ball plant that sealed his defeat and Higgins to hit home with a match-winning break.
It is clear that Zhao Xintong has the game and excels in so many departments, heavy break building and safety to name but a few. He produces a calmness around the table, floating the most difficult of pots into the back of their intended pockets. A player who reminds me very much of Mark Williams in his mindset, calm but ruthless.
However, Zhao still has one big problem to overcome and that is the inability to get over the winning line in the longer frame matches. The poor interim form has also played a part with Xintong crashing out of the recent Gibraltar Open 1-4 to Chris Wakelin. This best of 19 frames is still a bridge too far for him and his game batteries die when required. It is easy to be highly critical of him but I do it because I rate him so highly. When he has mastered this scratch on his armour, frankly he will become an unstoppable freight train that will avoid the buffers for many years to come.
Further Analysis
At the time of writing this piece, Neil Robertson looks in blistering form against Mark Allen on the second day of play in the afternoon session. An opponent that had actually got the better of him in the last five of the six times they have played each other. Leading his opponent 7-1 he has flourished in this tournament and is producing blistering form. Don’t rule out a crushing defeat in this one because Mark isn’t able to get to the table, nailed to his seat by the Australian. A player who will be hard to beat as he is highly focused on retaining this prized title.
