HIGGINS ENDS TROPHYWAIT
Snooker star hails best-ever week after win
John Higgins insists he enjoyed his best week in snooker after winning a first ranking title for three years.
The Wizard of Wishaw thrashed reigning world champion Ronnie O’Sullivan 10-3 in the Players Championship final on Sunday to pocket a cool £125,000 in prize money.
Higgins, who last won a ranking event at the 2018 Welsh Open, produced some magical snooker as he eased past The Rocket.
It was a sensational week for the four-time world champion, who whitewashed Jordan Brown and Mark Selby 6-0 and defeated Kyren Wilson 6-1 on his way to defeating O’Sullivan in Milton Keynes.
Higgins’ dominant display is the biggest win over his arch rival in their 18 meetings in ranking finals, and over the course of the week he won 28 frames from 32 played.
A delighted Higgins said: “It’s the best week I’ve ever had.
“I’ve won world titles, but the whole week, how I’ve felt and the calibre of players I’ve beat convincingly, it’s up there.
“I’ve never had a week where I’ve dominated in that fashion, usually I’m scrapping it out. I went through the field quite easily, it’s been amazing.
“It’s good to finally get my hands on a title again.”
And on beating his old rival, he added: “We’ve grown up together. He’s the best-ever.
“For me to beat the best-ever is a feather in my cap.”
The 45-year-old claimed the first few frames with ease and then racked up a break of 142 to go into the interval 4-0 to the good.
He was in sparkling form again in frame five with a break of 138 before O’Sullivan stopped the rot in the sixth frame, getting off the mark with a break of 82, but Higgins took a nervy seventh frame to bounce straight back.
O’Sullivan, though, produced the highest break of the tournament – a 144 – in the final frame of the session.
In the evening, Higgins started well with a half-century taking him to within three frames of glory. O’Sullivan wasn’t going to go down without a fight and a break of 110 clawed it back to 7-3.
But breaks of 70 and 77 in the following two frames took Higgins towards the finish line.
In frame 13, Higgins wrapped up the victory in style with another century to complete a stunning few days.
O’Sullivan said: “John was just unbelievable. It’s great to see such a great player back winning and it’s good for snooker.”