The 2022 Tour Championship final will be contested between Neil Robertson and John Higgins on Sunday in Llandudno.
Robertson emerged from an epic encounter with Ronnie O’Sullivan in the first semi-final on Friday that went all the way to a deciding frame.
On Saturday, Higgins subsequently held off Luca Brecel with a 10-7 scoreline to reach the title-deciding showdown at the Venue Cymru.
The Scot appeared to be in a spot of bother when he trailed the Belgian Bullet 3-0 after the early exchanges.
But he somehow managed to win the next couple of frames and Brecel’s opportunity to run off into the distance was lost.
Higgins hasn’t been playing particularly well this week, but he has found a way to grind out the right result in both of his victories so far.
A second successive £150,000 payday could be on the horizon for the 46 year-old, with the prize money for Sunday’s champion matching that of the lucrative European Series bonus he claimed last week following the Gibraltar Open.
Robertson, meanwhile, successfully staved off the challenge from the Rocket in a gripping last-four battle.
The Australian is into the Tour Championship final for the third time out of its four editions, and the 40 year-old will be the favourite to defend the crown he won twelve months ago.
While this represents a fourth ranking final appearance of the 2021/22 campaign for both players, it’s Robertson who exudes an aura of an almost unstoppable force at present.
Higgins may be the more decorated competitor overall, but the Wizard of Wishaw has struggled to get over the winning line recently when trophies have been on the line.
This was evident at the English Open in November, when Higgins lost the last three frames to suffer a 9-8 defeat to Robertson in Milton Keynes.
Higgins, bidding for a 32nd ranking title, was also denied success in both the Northern Ireland and Scottish Opens.
Robertson, by contrast, already has three pieces of silverware to his name from this term – also acting as the last man standing in the Players Championship and the prestigious Masters.
The Melbourne man is undoubtedly the player of the season and will likely head to the Crucible later in April as the cueist most tipped to win this year’s World Championship.
Before that there is a job to be done in the Tour Championship final, and if both players deliver the same kind of performances as they have done already this week, then there’s only going to be one outcome.
Higgins, of course, should never be written off as one of the greatest champions in the history of the game.
However, Robertson was able to withstand close to O’Sullivan’s A-game in the last four, which is a telling sign if ever there was one that somebody is bang in form.
Live coverage in the UK is on ITV4, with other options available around the world that you can find by clicking here.
The two sessions of the Tour Championship final begin at 1pm and 7:30pm respectively.
Featured photo credit: WST
It was definitely O’Sullivan’s A-game in the first session. Both men dropped a touch in the evening. You can get carried away by the recency of something but the opening session was the best I’ve ever witnessed in terms of quality.