Snooker / Paul Krishnamurty / 09 October 2009 /

Last time these two met, John Higgins won the marathon. Could Mark Allen fare better in today's sprint? Paul Krishnamurty picks the best bets.

For what is undoubtably the most attractive of today's quarter-finals, we have a re-run of the semi-final from the last World Championship, when John Higgins beat Mark Allen en route to a third world title. Perhaps with that in mind, Higgins starts at [1.5], but this match has a very different context and favourite backers would do well to think twice before steaming in.

Most obviously, that semi-final was over a marathon best of 33 frames, whereas this is a more random best of nine sprint. Not only did Higgins hold a significant advantage in terms of experience over his much younger opponent at Sheffield, but the Scot was in quite irresistable form over that fortnight in April.

Though one can hardly criticise his progress this week in Glasgow, having knocked out Ronnie O'Sullivan in the previous round, Higgins has been some way below that peak form in all of this season's matches. Indeed, while both players showed patches of brilliance, the match against Ronnie contained uncharacteristic mistakes and Higgins must have been thanking his lucky stars to emerge unscathed.

Higgins would start as favourite against anyone left in this draw, but I doubt he'll encounter a tougher opponent than Allen. This brilliant potter from Belfast has a big future, as he so clearly illustrated when beating O'Sullivan during that run at the Crucible, and he will surely win his first tournament before long. As so few top players have looked at their best this week, I have a sneaky feeling that this Grand Prix could be the tournament where Allen breaks through, and at [3.0] today, he must represent at least a bit of trading value.

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