Well, so much for Ali Carter winning the early battle against John Higgins in today's Welsh Open final – the Scot has been absolutely superb and leads 6-2 ahead of tonight's second and final session.
Carter must be wondering what has hit him in Newport, as the 'Captain' had hardly been out of his chair and found himself 5-0 behind. Breaks of 85, 101, 71, 137 and 81 put the 'Wizard of Wishaw' in complete control of this match, although Carter made a late fightback by taking two of the last three frames of the session to at least give himself half a chance of pegging back Higgins.
Higgins is now as short as 1-100 with extrabet to carry out the inevitable, with Coral offering the best price of 1-25, with Carter 14-1 with extrabet, bet365 and Ladbrokes. There's no realistic chance of Carter winning this now not with the form Higgins is showing and the best way of cashing in is to back the correct scoreliine.
The way it is going at the moment, Boylesports' 3-1 about a 9-3 win is looking most likely, with the same firm offering 10-3 for a 9-4 success. A punt on either of those two should be profitable.
