On October 15, Beijing time, the snooker Northern Ireland Open ended the third round of the main tournament, and the two world champions Higgins and Mark Williams staged a strong dialogue. As a result, Higgins staged a super comeback with a 3-0 deficit, winning four straight sets to eliminate Mark Williams. With Higgins in the lower half of the zone bursting out one after another, O'Sullivan and Selby did not qualify for the quarterfinals, Higgins's hopes of advancing to the final have greatly increased, and he may meet Trump in the final?
The third round of the main tournament ushered in a classic duel, that is, Higgins vs. Mark Williams, the two are old enemies, of course, but also good friends, past careers have contributed too many classic games. The most valuable thing is that both are advanced players, but they still maintain excellent competitive status, and in many ways, they are role models for young players to learn.
In this duel, the first to enter the game was Mark Williams, who shot two 50+ and quickly took a 3-0 lead. Seeing that Mark Williams was about to win three straight sets to take away the victory, the fourth set became a watershed moment in the whole game, Mark Williams made a fatal mistake, and Higgins came in to win the set 63-54.
Higgins then got better, with a 110-point clean sheet for Mark Williams, who won a sixth inning in a brawl to drag the game into the decider. In the final moments, Higgins seized the opportunity to win the decider 75-7, thus completing a big comeback, eliminating Mark Williams 4-3. It was a great victory, Higgins was 0-3 behind, fell into a desperate situation but did not give up, and the mental attributes were indeed too strong.
At the same time, Higgins' lower half of the zone has been out of the cold, O'Sullivan lost 3-4 to Yan Bingtao, Selby lost 2-4 to David Gilbert, the two title-winning favourites are out, Higgins's hopes of advancing to the final are greatly increased. Higgins will face David Gilbert in the quarter-finals, and if successfully passed, the semi-finals will face the winner between Yan Bingtao and Mitchell Mann. So, if Higgins can play at his best level, he has a chance to reach the final. He and the defending champion Trump will meet in the division final, and stage another master-apprentice duel, which is entirely possible.
The next matchday will be a quarter-final battle, starting with Trump and Mark Allen, followed by Sean Murphy against Rich Walton, and the two quarter-finals in the second half at the same time in the late season, Yan Bingtao vs. Mitchell Mann and Higgins vs. David Gilbert!