Prediction from Legalbet editorial team member Evgeniy Moravsky: bet on the 2024 World Snooker Championship match.
John Higgins
In the 1st round, with the fight half over (and those who watched the match saw that John Higgins' condition left a lot to be desired), the Scot beat Jamie Jones by a score of 10-6. But against the backdrop of top seed Jones, the snooker veteran looked better, although in the overall statistics the big advantage was only in long-range shots, and that was low for Higgins, just 59%. And in general it was clear that Higgins was playing to the limit of his capabilities, to the point of exhaustion, but professionalism played its main role and the match was brought to its logical conclusion. It will be difficult for the Scotsman in the next round.
Marcos Allen
Mark Allen also won his opening match at the Crucible with the same score of 10-6, but here the Northern Irishman immediately took the initiative and in the 1st session he was already leading with a comfortable lead. After the match, Allen admitted that in the opening round of the tournament he was just preparing to continue the fight for the main trophy of the season. During the season, the Pistol often lost to the best players, but also had victories over them, for example, in the final of the Champion of Champions invitational tournament, Allen defeated Judd Trump himself with a score of 10-3. Therefore, there was, there is and there will be more gunpowder…
guess
John Higgins' fatigue was visible to the naked eye. Each blow was given to the Scot with great difficulty. And now the fact that Mark Allen rested a day longer than Higgins must also play a role. If we compare the statistics of Allen and Higgins in the 1st round, then Mark is inferior, and even then only by 1%, only in performance, but in other aspects the Northern Irishman surpassed his eminent opponent. The rivals faced each other twice in the Crucible, and both times John Higgins celebrated victory. Now, due to my condition and motivation, I will give preference to Mark Allen, who should break Higgins' defeat statistics, mainly because the four-time world champion is in terrible condition. It's worth taking a moment.
guess
Mark Allen wins with handicap (-2,5)