On December 24, the ** Macau Masters ended in the third and fourth finals. Brecel, the strongest post-90s, suffered 2 consecutive defeats, lost to Higgins 4-6, and lost the revenge battle. The Wizards ended the tournament with 3 wins and 1 loss, creating a personal best record in 2023, which was worth the trip.
Brecel and Higgins are both world champions, and Luka narrowly defeated Selby 18-15 in this year's World Championship final, completing the first conquest of the post-90s in Crucible, and surpassing Kyren Wilson in the world ranking to become the new brother of the post-90s. Higgins has won the World Championship four times before and is also the 31st ranking champion, but the most recent title was back in the 2021 Players Championship, and he has been in a title drought for two years.
Both of them have lost the championship in advance in this tournament, and both lost in the semifinals. Higgins won 2 consecutive wins in the group stage, hitting a single stroke of 147, and tried his best in the semifinals to still lose to Selby 3-6, and was beaten by the opponent with a perfect score. Brecel lost to Higgins in the first game of the group stage, beat Hawkins 3-2 in the second game to qualify as the second place, and lost 1-6 to Carter in the semifinals, with an overall record of 1-2.
In today's third- and fourth-place finals, Higgins and Brecel met again, and the Belgian bullets who lost in the group stage ushered in a revenge battle. After 10 rounds of competition, Brecel added a new creation to the old injury, defeated the wizard 4-6 again, swallowed 2 consecutive defeats, and ended the tournament in 4th place. Higgins, who had lost four consecutive semi-finals, finished third and achieved a personal best this season and set a new record.