Tour Championship

Fantastic 10-7 victory for John Higgins against Hawkins in the semi final! Hawkins made breaks of 125 and 140, but Higgins, who turns 50 on May 18, matched that with breaks of 144 and 130. When Higgins was 9-7 up he made a 103 break for good measure to run out a 10-7 winner. He plays either Ding or Selby in Sunday's final.

When Higgins took a 6-5 lead, Phil Yates gave a helpful statistic that Hawkins had the 5 highest breaks of the match, despite trailing. Higgins then got his 144, and moved into what turned out a decisive lead.

Tonight's other semi ought to also be impressive and battling.

Mark Selby sailed to an easy 10-2 victory over Ding Junhui with a dominant performance to reach the final.

Ding's luck typified in that last frame, where a chance at a 147 turned into losing it on the black. But he did well to make the semis. Selby seems to have been on a tear this week, so it'll be immovable object meets irresistible force tomorrow.

John Higgins rolled back the years to win an epic against Mark Selby 10-8 in one of the all time great finals.

Both men hit 4 centuries each with Higgins delivering his most important one to seal glory.
The Scot actually led 5-1 before Selby won 7 frames in a row with a blitz of power scoring to lead 8-5. Too much for most players to recover from but not The Wizard of Wishaw.
Breaks of 110, 80, 67 and a closing 132 delivered the trophy for the Scot as he roared back to win the final five frames. Absolutely magnificent match between two great champions.

Lived up to its hype, seesawing both ways before it was done. Well done both, especially John.

Getting excited for the world championships at the crucible at the end of the month could be so wide open to pick a winner and will he or won't he show up Mr O'Sullivan

The Tour Championship takes place at Manchester Central from March 30th to April 5th. Ronnie withdrew before the World Open so he could prepare for the World Championship making Xiao Guodong provisional 12th seed. Thepchaiya pinched Xiao's place with his inspired performances at the World Open, getting a high as 9th on the 1 year ranking list.

The Line-up:

Barry Hawkins (8) v Thepchaiya Un-Nooh (9), winner to play Neil Robertson (1)

Judd Trump (5) v Mark Allen (12), winner to play Shaun Murphy (4)

Mark Williams (6) v John Higgins (11), winner to play Mark Selby (3)

Wu Yize (7) v Chris Wakelin (10), winner to play Zhao Xintong (2)

Thepchaiya's win showed how even from a poor season, it IS possible to spring up the rankings.

Some intriguing draws there, especially in the lower half.

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