John Higgins has been in good form at the start of the 2017/18 season and he looks set to stay in that vein when taking on Joe Swail in World Open qualifying on Wednesday. Higgins suffered a narrow 5-4 loss to Ronnie O’Sullivan at the Hong Kong Masters before racking up two consecutive victories in qualifying for the Indian Open and European Masters. The 42-year-old Scot, who is 12/1 to win the World Championships next year, has only dropped two frames from his last two matches whilst also making four 50-plus breaks.
He heads into Wednesday’s encounter bang in form and the 28-time ranking tournament winner should have no problem in dispatching an opponent struggling for consistency. Northern Irishman Swail was on a three-game losing streak before stopping the rot against Thailand’s James Wattana, winning 4-1 in European Masters qualifying. The 47-year-old has never beaten Higgins in 11 attempts with the most recent clash coming back in 2014 at the German Masters, the Scot picking up a 5-3 victory. Elsewhere, there was a shock qualifying defeat for world number three Judd Trump as he was thrashed 5-0 by fellow Englishman Sam Craigie, who reached the second round of the World Open last year. ‘The Juddernaut’, who is 6/1 to triumph at the World Championships, struggled from the off and failed to make one break over 50 as he was brushed aside.
There were no such problems for Welshman Mark Williams, who beat England’s Christopher Keogan 5-0, while Mark Allen defeated China’s Wang Yuchen 5-1. Thailand Noppon Saengkham managed to scrape past England’s Adam Duffy 5-3, Cyprus’ Michael Georgiou whitewashed Irishman Fergal O’Brien while England’s Elliot Slessor overcame compatriot Mark Davis 5-4 in a close encounter.
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