John Higgins versus Stephen Lee – 2011 Betfred.com World Snooker Championship Preview
John Higgins and Stephen Lee has set to meet in the first round of 2011 Betfred.com World Snooker Championship, which is going to be staged, at the Crucible Theatre, Sheffield, England.
This is one of the most interesting clashes of the first round, as both players are playing on the top of their game and have the capability of producing a championship-winning game. Moreover,
they have met each other fifteen times before in a professional competition, more than any other pair in the last-32 round.
Their first meeting was back in 1995, at the Welsh Open, where Higgins dominated Lee in the final deciding frame. Their next four clashes were all in the ranking events between 1996-07
and all of them were won by Higgins. Though Lee broke his duck in their fifth meeting which came during the Irish Open in 1998-99, Higgins again trashed him in the quarter-finals of both the Regal Scottish Open and the World Champion, later that season. Higgins
also registered himself in the following two meeting, which were at the World Open and the Nations Cup in the season 1999-2000.
Though Higgins surprisingly lost the next three matches against Lee, who came up during the ranking events in the following season, he bounced back again to win at the quarter-finals of
the British Open. The Wizard of Wishaw, Higgins, also added two more victories to his account during the season 2002-03, at the Scottish Open and Masters Tournaments.
Since then both players have met only three times during the elite big three events. The first clash came at the quarter-final stage of Masters in 2004, second came in 2006 during the
UK Championship and their final meeting was also during the UK Championship earlier this season. All these last three meetings also went in favour of Higgins. So overall in their head to head record Higgins leads Lee by 15-4.
As far as their Crucible history is concerned, the current world number one, Higgins, has appeared sixteen times before and this will be his seventeenth time. Moreover Higgins also has
lifted the World Championship trophy three times before; in 1998, 2007 and 2009. He also was the runner-up in the 2001 World Championship where he lost to Ronnie O’Sullivan by a frame score of 18-14.
The world number twenty-one, Lee, on the same note has participated fifteen times before and this will be his sixteenth appearance. However his best performance came in the 2003 World
Championship where he made it to the semi-final before losing out to Mark Williams by a frame score of 17-8. So arguably it can be said that Higgins leads Lee by miles in their overall credentials.
As far as their season this year is concerned, Higgins couldn’t participate in the first ten PTC events as well as the Shanghai Masters and the World Open, as he was suspended for six
month. However, since his return he has been unstoppable. He won the EPTC5 event before reaching the final of EPTC6. Higgins also won the UK Championship and he was not finished yet, as he also clichéd the Welsh Open title afterwards. He was also unbeaten
in the German Masters, but he pulled himself out, as his father passed away. Though his winning streak finally ended in the quarter-final of China Open, he has been superb throughout.
For the thirty-six-year-old, Lee, in the meanwhile it has also not been a bad season. He was consistent in the PTC events and he also won EPTC4 event. He also reached the last-16 of the
World Open before qualifying for both the Shanghai Masters and the UK Championship.
Though in 2011 he lost in the last-32 of the German Masters and in the qualifiers of the Welsh Open, he did well in the following PTC Grand Finals and the China Open.
Keeping all the facts and figures in mind, it is fair to say that Higgins is going to be fancied for the match, though Lee also has the capability of going all the way.
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