Keep forgetting that this is the final. Normally it'll be the semi finals on Saturday ofc.

Two 40somethings battling it out for 200k! Its gonna be tense near the end if it goes close.

Not many players can do what John Higgins has just done. Incredible, from 7-7 he won the title making three consecutive centuries! All clearances as well, didn't look like missing a ball.

incredible end game by Higgins - insane standard yet again!

Just when you think he's starting fade away he produces a performance like that to remind us he's not done yet. Certainly been a lot of snooker lately and champion of champions next week.

When John Higgins is in full flow, he really is sublime. He is definitely still a force to be reckoned with.

Great win.

Nice to see Martin Gould again. Seems to have been MIA for the last few months.

Should be quite rapid tonight.

Obviously, got ITV4 on for the Champion of Champions. Stephen Hendry and Clive Everton together - obviously excellent.

In the fifth frame of O'Sullivan v Gould and so far it's been a decent game all round. I do think Martin's got to win this frame though and keep it tight to get a result (Hendry's pretty much said he needs to take these sorts of opportunities) so we'll see what happens.

Not so sure about that ghastly grey carpet as the backdrop or the fact the referee Paul Collier doesn't have a jacket on...

It looks as though the carpet hasn't arrived and they're just playing on the concrete floor of the arena.

Ha ha, just what i thought, far to much grey in that arena

...and the blue light shining down on the sides of the table is a bit of an eyesore

Definitely agree on that one. Maybe the carpet fitters thought it was still a Tuesday to Sunday tournament, turned up today to fit the carpet, and was shocked to see play in action!!

Ronnie O'Sullivan closes it out 6-2 over Martin Gould with a series of decent breaks, and although not at best form, still looks reasonably good. And a century to finish as well, a total clearance at that.

I do wonder what some of the crowd do for a living. Brian was there today, naturally, as was Welsh Steve, he is at everything and I mean everything. How he can afford it I don't know

And that girl with the red hair too.

Be interesting to see if we see them all at the crucible next April because they cancelled season tickets or something didn't they?

I think Steve takes some beating. Every session, every event and all the qualifiers. Must cost him a fortune in hotels. We saw him at York for the UK. We were all standing there in the queue and he just walked up and went straight to the front, those there let him. All mates together I think

I'm Enjoying the snooker, well what i can see, there seems to be more carpet than table, do they not have zoom on the camera? and yes the carpet and blue light is a complete fail.

What about the annoying air con or fan noise in the background!

Itv and Matchroom need to sort this out

Brian, the football shirt wearing guy who attends every session at the Crucible has a bit of a dilemna tomorrow night. He's been at this tournament all week and I think he goes to all England matches as well.

Wonder where he will be tomorrow evening?

Been some good games the past couple of days.

A frame in the Murphy/Higgins match was great. Higgins was 0-77 behind after missing a red 7 or 8 times (hitting the pink for most of them) and he still won the frame. He never gives up on a frame.

It was a decent lay by Murphy:

http://i.imgur.com/0KCNt1i.png

Which semi final is this evening? The Ronnie one?

Yeah, Higgins on this afternoon, O'Sullivan this evening.

I'm kinda surprised how quiet this thread, what with this being on terrestrial TV.

I generally enjoy ITV's coverage and having Stephen Hendry join the team has been a huge bonus. Jill is still not great but is slowly starting to improve, but Alan McManus has some really annoying habits; the worse being talking over people and almost finishing their sentences. I feel he also talks too much in commentary. Whereas Clive, Neal and Stephen are happy to let there be periods of quiet, McManus is of the opposite ilk. Mark Johnston-Allen is terrible and surely they can find a better MC than him?

Another mental score fest this afternoon. So far breaks of 76, 135, 83, 102, 79 and 142 in the seven frames played (the three tons coming from Ding).

So like Mark Williams did when he lost 5-4 to Stephen Lee in the 2011 China Open, Ding makes 4 tons in a one session match and still loses!

Yes that was the one. All those points given away didn't put him off though ...

Can't say I'm a great fan of Mark Johnston-Allan as an MC - just doesn't have the voice for the job, as weak as Rob Walker really. Neither of them hold a candle to John Macdonald.

And why do we need the player re-introduced with music and flashing lights at the return after the mid-session interval? I image that most spectators know who the players are, and haven't forgotten between half sessions! Why don't they go the whole hog and do it after each toilet break as well?

Commentary team however is probably the best you'll get, Everton, McManus and Hendry are a hard team to beat.

^^ don't forget Neal Foulds... He's the best of the lot IMO.

The standard today has been unbelievable. Ronnie just made the eighth century of the day and amazingly the only semi finalist who didn't make a century is the only man into the final right now!

Tomorrow's final has all the makings of a absolute cracker if both Ronnie and Higgins play like they did in the semis.