At 21:00 Beijing time on January 10, 2022, the World Snooker Masters will usher in the third match of the first round of competition, and China's post-90s player Zhao Xintong will face Higgins, who has reached the final three times this season. Judging from the hand-to-hand records, Zhao Xintong currently has the upper hand with four wins and three losses. In terms of individual competitive performance, Zhao Xintong's performance is also even better, because he won the third group competition with eight consecutive wins in the just-concluded Champions League. But in terms of overall strength, Higgins is significantly stronger. However, judging from the probability of winning the game, the probability of Zhao Xintong's promotion is still larger.
Zhao Xintong has an advantage in the record of hand-to-hand combat
Higgins and Zhao Xintong have played each other seven times in past matches, and Zhao Xintong has a slight advantage in four wins and three losses. The most recent meeting between the two sides was at last year's British Championship, when Zhao Xintong won three straight reverse games with Higgins taking the lead in the match point. For the Chinese youngsters, this is a remarkable achievement. And now, Zhao Xintong is impacting the next victory with the recent good state and good mentality, so objectively speaking, Zhao Xintong still has some advantages in this classic duel. At present, the biggest problem is that Higgins' comprehensive ability is obviously stronger, and how Zhao Xintong should resolve such a crisis has become very important.
Higgins could once again be upset out of a round trip
In the showdown between Higgins and Zhao Xintong, Higgins is obviously superior in terms of overall strength, but Higgins is not obvious in the face of quasi-players, unless that person is Trump. In old games, Higgins was only able to pull a gap against a quasi-player like Trump. Nor can you have a clear advantage against Robertson, Allen, mark Williams, and that's the problem with the style of the ball. For Higgins, possession and defense are of course their own advantages, but for the accuracy players, they can make up for their obvious deficiencies in defense and possession through accuracy, because their accuracy is too lethal. For the average player, some of the balls may already be considered defensive, but for the accuracy players, this may just be a good opportunity to score. In such a situation, Higgins will not be able to do much, so he is likely to make another round trip.
Zhao Xintong is expected to successfully break through to advance to the quarterfinals
In the match between Zhao Xintong and Higgins, Zhao Xintong's playing style will still be based on offense as the main way to win, because his defense is obviously unable to fight Higgins. Therefore, Zhao Xintong's best practice is to break the opponent's defensive rhythm through accuracy and sharp attack, and force the opponent to change the rhythm and playing style to gain an advantage. If Zhao Xintong and Higgins fight defense, then he is easily biased by the opponent, after all, Higgins' defense is the best in snooker history, and even Selby can't be stronger than him. But in terms of offense, Higgins's performance is not as good as his. Zhao Xintong's biggest advantage is to score goals quickly and quickly end round after round, which is his own rhythm, if he can maintain this offensive rhythm, then Higgins will have a very difficult time beating him. Because Zhao Xintong's game ended too quickly. Higgins is not good at fast-paced games, and his pace has always been unfast or slow. So when that rhythm is broken, there are a lot of problems in his game, which is why he is at a disadvantage against O'Sullivan. Therefore, from the comprehensive situation, Zhao Xintong has more advantages to advance.