John Higgins vs Guodong Xiao Prediction: John Higgins to advance to the next round

John Higgins vs Guodong Xiao: Prediction and odds on the Match on 24 April 2025

The round of 8 of the World Championship is here in the snooker world. John Higgins, the world number 3, will face off against 14th-ranked Guodong Xiao on Thursday evening. All hopes are high on this fixture as the two professionals eye a spot in the next round. John Higgins is coming from a win in his last fixture against Joe O'Connor, while Gudong Xiao recorded a win against Selt. Who will win this next round of snooker? At Telecom Asia, we look at the match’s preview and offer free betting opportunities.

John Higgins: Form and Statistics

John Higgins' last four matches have been a sweet ride for him, which earned him the Tour Championship trophy. His last match was against Joe O`Connor in the round of 16 of the World Championship tournament. The match ended in an emphatic 10-7 victory for Higgins. Before this, he faced Mark Selby and won the Tour Championship following a 10-8 score margin. The journey through this competition had him face different players such as Gudong Xiao in the quarter finals (10-3 win), and Barry Hawkins in the semi-finals (7-10). In the meantime, John Higgins’ game against Guodong Xiao in the quarterfinal saw him show some levels of resilience to score seven consecutive points despite being tied 3-3 in the seventh frame. He has won against the likes of Chris Wakelin and Guodong Xiao in the Players Championship. Other victories were against Z Surety, J Pang, Y Zhou, R Williams, R and M Davis. Both Higgins and Selby started off the match with 67 break scores, but it was Selby who emerged victorious after the opening frame thanks to a respotted black. After that, the 49-year-old made breaks of 63 and 79 to twice squeeze his way into a three-frame lead. After beating his English rival in a drawn-out battle over safety, the Scots then won the second and a prolonged third with a calm score of 63. John Higgins will feel confident heading into this game as he takes a step towards booking a spot in the final.

John Higgins Strength

Now that the first part is through, we can look forward to seeing a new character from John Higgins, who is hoping that the second half will go more smoothly. His strength was displayed in one of his bout against one of the top-ranked. He played Barry Hawkins in one of his games in the semi-final, and he won. In what was a hard-fought victory for the Scottish, John Higgins needed to do better in the last frames after Hawkins closed the lead to 6-7. On the other hand, he will be in good shape for this match because he is playing in the Champion of Champions tournament, which has the best professional Snooker players.

Guodong Xiao: Form and Statistics

Guodong Xiao is off to an alternating run of qualification performances and will approach this game with his best strategy. He has recorded 5 wins and 5 losses in the last ten matches. In his last match, He faced Matthew Selt in the round of 16 of the World Championship and won by a score margin of 10-4. Before that, he squared it with John Higgins at the Tour Championship Quarter finals but recorded a loss by a score margin of 10-3. Also, He defeated Iulian Boiko, Haydon Pinhey, and Huang Jiahao in games that ended 5-2, 5-1, and 4-2, respectively. In his first match at the Champion of Champions tournament, Guodong Xiao defeated Ronnie O’Sullivan and then went on to pull off a hard-fought victory over Mark Selby. However, in his prior encounters with this competition, He won four of five matches, defeating Jackson Page, Jack Lisowski, Mark Allen, and Ricky with his only defeat coming against Chris Wakelin, all in the China International Championship.

Guodong Xiao Strength

While Guodong Xiao has had decent performances in recent times and also won the last meeting of this fixture, everything still indicates that he can only put up a show against the top five-ranked, and not get a win over them. However, the Chinese head into this game as a slight underdog, but with his recent performances, he will look to do better here.

John Higgins vs Guodong Xiao: Betting Insights, Tips & Odds

Taking a look at their last match alone might not give a clear picture of expectations for this match, as both players are coming from a win in their last match. The margin also in the ranks isn't far, like the north to south. However, looking at their last ten matches, John Higgins is the more dominant, as he has recorded more wins than Guodong Xiao. 1xbet bookmakers have Higgins to win at 1.38 odds while Xiao's victory is currently at 3.02 odds.

John Higgins vs Guodong Xiao Match Prediction 24 April 2025

These are two good snooker players, and with the level of performance they showed in their various rounds of 32 matches, I expect solid play from them. Since both competitors have a chance of winning, we anticipate a very challenging competition. Even though we continue to believe that Guodong Xiao will have a difficult time scoring a win in this competition, we continue to believe that at the very least, he will be able to cover the enormous odds. A wager on "over" should also be considered, although John Higgins is the favorite. Higgins has won eight of their encounters.

Our match prediction: is over 21.5 total frames 2-way with odds available at 1.65 on 1Xbet bookmaker. 

Our betting tip: is a 13-8 correct score in favour of John Higgins with odds available at 8.50 on Betway bookmaker. 

Our last match prediction: is -2.5 match handicap for John Higgins with odds at 1.72 on Bet365 bookmaker.