Bet on John Higgins to sweep past Rory McLeod
Published:After a miserable year away from the baize, John Higgins has shown what he’s really all about in this world championship.
Higgins – who was banned from snooker for six months following match-fixing allegations – came through his first round in comfortable fashion with a 10-5 win over Stephen Lee, playing some lovely snooker on the way.
Higgins is huge favourite at 1/20 to defeat McLeod, but the Englishman showed in his last round win against Ricky Walden that he is more than capable of grinding out results – even if it means strangling all the life out of the game.
It might not be pretty to watch, but Higgins admits he’s fully prepared for whatever McLeod throws at him.
He said: “He’s maybe been unfairly criticized. There was lots of tension from Rory because he knew the TV cameras were on him and he wanted to do himself justice.
“I’m expecting Rory to come out and play a lot better in his second match. I can’t afford to think it’s an easy match because it’s certainly not that.”
Higgins – who’s won the world championship on three previous occasions – can be backed at 8/11 to win this best of 25 match with a handicap of -6.5 frames.
With the less than inspiring McLeod maybe feeling pressurized to take on a few more balls than in his last round, that looks like an extremely tempting bet – especially with Higgins starting to find his game again.
A £10 bet on Higgins to win 13-7 would pay out £60. New customers can sign up here to take advantage of a free football bet worth up to £30.
