Betfred Masters Final: Yan Bingtao v John Higgins

Johnny Bravo wrote:I still enjoy Xintong more, his style is more entertaining. But Bingtao's tactical game is far superior.

Bingtao is even slower than Selby, which is saying something. Hopefully he'll pick up the pace as he matures as a player.

Johnny Bravo wrote:

Pink Ball wrote:I've said for quite a long time that this kid is the great hope for the future. Not your Luca Brecels, Zhao Xintongs... this kid had something those two just can't seem to get their heads around: he plays snooker, not trickshots.

I still enjoy Xintong more, his style is more entertaining. But Bingtao's tactical game is far superior.

Correct, Johnny.

Everything is a pint of blood with Yan, he can be tough to watch sometimes, but he’s a hell of a snooker player, and he’s miles further along in his development to any other young player.

Wildey wrote:

Pink Ball wrote:On reflection, I don't think Trump not being in the field should take from Yan's victory, despite Trump being the best player in the world.

Discipline is a huge part of any sport, and it looks as though a lack of discipline may have cost Trump a tournament he might well have won.

But if Alex Higgins or Jimmy White missed a tournament because he'd injured himself while out on this snake hiss, that's their tough.

absolutely its not as if Yan had a easy draw.

Neil robertson UK Champion
Stephen Maguire Tour Champion
Stuart Binghan Masters Champion
John Higgins enough said

Indeed. That is a draw from hell!

Wildey wrote:Yan becomes the 3rd youngest champion behind Ronnie O'Sullivan (1995) he was 19 and Stephen Hendry (1989) he just turned 20.

At a time when Snooker is becoming a old mans sport like in the 70s its brilliant to have a 20 year old Master.

and the first triple crown winner that was born after the 1980s

Pink Ball wrote:The COVID era has actually been remarkable in snooker. Huge UK final, huge Masters final, possibly the best day snooker has had since 1985 on the final day of the world semis, an all-round vintage World Championship. Extraordinary.

Iranu wrote:https://twitter.com/betfred/status/1350966809835536386?s=21

This interview is far better than the BBC’s or Eurosport’s.

Rob Walker is great at interviewing him.

Jason Mohamed welsh accent and Colin Murray Irish accent would be harder


Whats great about Yan he wants to succeed and maximise his potential hes nowhere near as talented as others on tour but he works hard very hard.

Well, it's on Yan's fault that Judd caught Covid. You can only beat what's put in front of you.

And as said, he beat Robertson in his first round match. One of the players of the season.

He wasn't intimidated by playing Higgins in the final either. Especially impressive as it's his debut Masters tournament.

Good to see a youngster win a tournament, for once.

SnookerFan wrote:Well, it's on Yan's fault that Judd caught Covid. You can only beat what's put in front of you.

And as said, he beat Robertson in his first round match. One of the players of the season.

He wasn't intimidated by playing Higgins in the final either. Especially impressive as it's his debut Masters tournament.

Good to see a youngster win a tournament, for once.

yea lets be brutally honest at 20 Judd Trump could only dream of beating Higgins in a major final.

Wildey wrote:yea lets be brutally honest at 20 Judd Trump could only dream of beating Higgins in a major final.

Even in his dreams, Judd would've probably still bottled it and lost. For years, he had a mental block over playing Higgins.

Higgins is obviously past his prime but that doesnt take anything away from Yans win. Yan isnt really in his prime either. Its yet to come as a 20 year old.

Higgins played to a decent level in this tournament from start to finish. He couldnt back up his performance against Ronnie but he was never gonna play like that again in the upcoming matches. So yeah, a very good win for Yan against one of the All-Time Greats.

That was some brilliant stuff from Yan, particularly a few pressure pots in the closing 2 frames.

Hard to know if Higgins will keep putting in performances like this now and again, but surely Yan can now challenge for the 2021 WC

Wildey wrote:yea lets be brutally honest at 20 Judd Trump could only dream of beating Higgins in a major final.

Indeed.

It would be unfair to play down Yan's win by saying he didn't have to face Trump. By that logic the entire season when O'Sullivan took time off is invalid as nobody had to play him

Dragonfly wrote:It would be unfair to play down Yan's win by saying he didn't have to face Trump. By that logic the entire season when O'Sullivan took time off is invalid as nobody had to play him

Also, there's no evidence or guarantee that he'd have even faced Judd anyway, Judd isn't a guaranteed winner in every event he plays in.

Trying to be purely factual here, this years masters had the following players in it:

Players in the 2021 Masters but ranked by their One Year List rankings instead of the usual long-term rankings:

Robertson (2)
Selby (3)
Wilson (4)
RoS (5)
Higgins (8)
Ding (11)
Bingham (15)
Yan (19)
Perry (20)
Murphy (21)
Allen (26)
Thepchaiya (33)
Williams (35)
Maguire (44)
Gilbert (68)
G. Wilson (83)

So it could be argued that the field was quite generous this year, however, you'll notice than Yan played mostly players who are still in the top 16, including the top current seed, so there's not really much more you can ask of a winner and it had a good chance of being no different if Judd was there.

John's interview with Rob Walker 'this is the sickest I've been for a long time,' https://twitter.com/Betfred/status/1351167460687421443

'Yan is a one off.'

Dan-cat wrote:John's interview with Rob Walker 'this is the sickest I've been for a long time,' https://twitter.com/Betfred/status/1351167460687421443

'Yan is a one off.'

Wow. He's really gutted.

Holden Chinaski wrote:

Dan-cat wrote:John's interview with Rob Walker 'this is the sickest I've been for a long time,' https://twitter.com/Betfred/status/1351167460687421443

'Yan is a one off.'

Wow. He's really gutted.

The last few years have been painful for John. Its the 4th TC final he's lost in a row now, 3 of them World finals. Doesnt matter how strong you are mentally, it gets under your skin and we saw that in the final stages of the match yesterday. Higgins missed a lot more balls than Yan did.

TheRocket wrote:we saw that in the final stages of the match yesterday. Higgins missed a lot more balls than Yan did.

I actually turned it off for a while after it went 8-8, I found all the misses really excruciating, being a long-term fan of Higgins. I wasn't upset that Yan was winning, Higgins couldn't lose to a nicer guy, but just watching higgins fall apart was unbearable to the nth degree.

SnookerEd25 wrote:

HustleKing wrote:That was some brilliant stuff from Yan, particularly a few pressure pots in the closing 2 frames.

Hard to know if Higgins will keep putting in performances like this now and again, but surely Yan can now challenge for the 2021 WC

Is he safe in the 16, or does he still have work to do to ensure an automatic placing?

the race to the crucible he's no6

SnookerEd25 wrote:

csprince wrote:

SnookerEd25 wrote:

HustleKing wrote:That was some brilliant stuff from Yan, particularly a few pressure pots in the closing 2 frames.

Hard to know if Higgins will keep putting in performances like this now and again, but surely Yan can now challenge for the 2021 WC

Is he safe in the 16, or does he still have work to do to ensure an automatic placing?

the race to the crucible he's no6

Looks pretty nailed on then.

sorry i misread your post higgins no6 bingtao no10 on race to the crucible.

SnookerEd25 wrote:

HustleKing wrote:That was some brilliant stuff from Yan, particularly a few pressure pots in the closing 2 frames.

Hard to know if Higgins will keep putting in performances like this now and again, but surely Yan can now challenge for the 2021 WC

Is he safe in the 16, or does he still have work to do to ensure an automatic placing?

Higgins or Yan? Both are top ten for provisional rankings so no issues there.

Yan failed to qualify for the German Masters and is not in the PC positions at present, so will need a good run in Welsh or Shootout or he won't have much proper snooker before the Crucible.

SnookerEd25 wrote:

HappyCamper wrote:

SnookerEd25 wrote:

HustleKing wrote:That was some brilliant stuff from Yan, particularly a few pressure pots in the closing 2 frames.

Hard to know if Higgins will keep putting in performances like this now and again, but surely Yan can now challenge for the 2021 WC

Is he safe in the 16, or does he still have work to do to ensure an automatic placing?

Higgins or Yan? Both are top ten for provisional rankings so no issues there.

Yan failed to qualify for the German Masters and is not in the PC positions at present, so will need a good run in Welsh or Shootout or he won't have much proper snooker before the Crucible.

Shootout? Proper snooker?

Kindly correct yourself

You misunderstood, he needs the ranking points from the shootout to get into the proper snooker (Players and Tour Championships).

race to the crucible.

1 Ronnie O'Sullivan £0 £597,500 £93,500 £691,000
2 Judd Trump £500,000 £796,500 £374,500 4000 £1,671,000
3 Mark Selby £30,000 £425,500 £225,500 0 £681,000
4 Neil Robertson £50,000 £324,500 £246,000 0 £620,500
5 Kyren Wilson £50,000 £350,000 £108,000 3000 £508,000
6 John Higgins £200,000 £188,500 £70,000 4000 £458,500
7 Shaun Murphy £30,000 £383,000 £41,000 4000 £454,000
8 Ding Junhui £30,000 £291,250 £56,500 4000 £377,750
9 Stephen Maguire £50,000 £302,000 £25,000 4000 £377,000
10 Yan Bingtao £15,000 £236,500 £40,000 0 £291,500
11 Mark Allen £0 £225,500 £32,000 3000 £257,500
12 Mark Williams £30,000 £169,250 £25,500 0 £224,750
13 Anthony McGill £20,000 £156,500 £44,000 3000 £220,500
14 David Gilbert £100,000 £104,000 £14,500 0 £218,500
15 Zhou Yuelong £30,000 £102,250 £74,000 4000 £206,250
16 Thepchaiya Un-Nooh £20,000 £156,000 £26,000 0 £202,000
17 Graeme Dott £20,000 £151,250 £30,000 4000 £201,250
18 Gary Wilson £100,000 £91,000 £8,500 0 £199,500
19 Joe Perry £20,000 £130,000 £42,500 4000 £192,500
20 Barry Hawkins £30,000 £101,250 £56,500 4000 £187,750
21 Stuart Bingham £30,000 £95,500 £47,000 4000 £172,500
22 Jack Lisowski £0 £86,750 £78,500 4000 £165,250
23 Kurt Maflin £15,000 £122,000 £27,000 0 £164,000
24 Ali Carter £50,000 £72,000 £27,000 0 £149,000
25 Tom Ford £15,000 £107,250 £25,000 4000 £147,250
26 Michael Holt £10,000 £105,000 £29,000 3000 £144,000
27 Zhao Xintong £20,000 £76,750 £46,500 3000 £143,250
28 Martin Gould £20,000 £61,750 £61,000 0 £142,750
29 Liang Wenbo £15,000 £89,500 £30,000 4000 £134,500
30 Matthew Selt £15,000 £80,250 £24,500 0 £119,750
31 Scott Donaldson £20,000 £80,250 £19,000 0 £119,250
32 Matthew Stevens £15,000 £82,750 £20,500 0 £118,