John Higgins will face Peter Ebdon in today's Irish Masters final in Dublin after a narrow 6-5 victory over Matthew Stevens in Saturday night's second semi-final. The Scot lost the first three frames of the match but he gradually got into his stride and eventually edged out Welshman Stevens with a 50 in the final frame. Peter Ebdon became the first finalist yesterday when he beat Ireland's Ken Doherty 6-3.
After his victory last night, Higgins admitted Stevens should have won the match, and said today's clash with Ebdon will be a tough one. "Matthew should have won the match because he would have been 4-0 up but for the kick. It was very unlucky and I just had to take advantage, although at 5-3 up I let it slip a bit. Peter's got a great record against me but he played really well in every one of the matches so it's not as if I wasn't in form.
"It will be very tough because he's playing well and confident but we'll have to wait and see. If I can win it will be a real boost with the world championships just around the corner," he said.
Filed by Tom Grealis
