John Higgins 'The Wizard of Wishaw' held off an almighty comeback from Mark Selby to win the 888.com World Snooker Championship final 18-13 and regain the official world No 1 ranking position which he last held in 2000.
It was back in 1998 when he was just 22 years that he won his first world title, beating Ken Doherty 18-12 and it was widely expected that he would go on to become a multiple Crucible winner.
However this expectation was denied him as he reached just one final in the next eight attempts, the 2001 when he lost 18-14 to Ronnie O'Sullivan.But Higgins has now joined a small group of players to have won the world championship title more than once. Since 1969 only John Spencer, Ray Reardon, Alex Higgins, Steve Davis, Stephen Hendry, Mark Williams and Ronnie O'Sullivan have achieved this feat.
Higgins has now won 18 ranking titles in all, putting him joint third on the all-time list with O'Sullivan, though still well behind Hendry (36) and Davis (28).
His path to victory started after he struggled in his opening match against Michael Holt, followed by a superb performance against Fergal O'Brien. He then went on to knock out pre-event favourite Ronnie O'Sullivan before making a remarkable recovery to oust fellow Scot Stephen Maguire in the semi-finals, winning 17-15 from 14-10 down.
In the final it was certainly Higgins that had much more to lose than Selby, and at times the tension showed in Higgins as the burden of expectation was evident.
The drama of the afternoon session, when Selby won all six frames to close to 12-10, continued into the final session.
Higgins was on a break of 58, needing only to pot an easy green to secure the frame, but somehow went in-off into a middle pocket. Higgins later cleared to the pink to go 13-10 ahead.
Selby pulled back the next frame to go 13-11 before Higgins again stamped his authority on the match and went 14-11 ahead after a break of 48. Selby replied to take the next frame with the score at 14-12.
The 27th frame was a marathon at 55 minutes, the second longest frame of the tournament. Selby potted the final blue after a long tactical battle to narrow the gap to one at 14-13 the first time since 4-3.
Higgins responded with renewed determination in the 28th frame slamming in the last red to move two frames ahead. In the 29th Selby missed a pink and Higgins completed a 57 clearance to go 16-13 ahead needed only two frames for the title.
In the next he made a 122 clearance, the 68th century of the tournament equalling the record set in 2002. He now needed just the last frame and a break of 78 secured this and the title.
'I’m absolutely gone now the final’s over but I actually really enjoyed it. Mark came back superbly. He’s definitely a future world champion. I played him two years ago and I’m sure he won’t mind me saying but he looked a bit ragged. Then last year he beat me 10-4, he’s come on so much. In those last four frames I think I played the best snooker of my life under that sort of pressure. To join players like Hendry, O’Sullivan and Williams as winners of the World Championship more than once is a great honour.' said Higgins.
Higgins later commented about his performance, 'Staying calm at the table and not letting the situation get to me is the one thing I can put this win down to,' he said 'I’ve tried to keep a positive outlook because in the past when I’ve been behind in a match I show my emotions far too much to the other player. I controlled that 99% of the time over the last 17 days and I think that’s been one of the deciding advantages for me.
'Leicester’s 23-year-old Selby said: 'I came here today to give it all I could and I nearly took it off John. I really enjoyed every minute. I was 12-4 down but when I came out today I thought I would give it my best shot. Around 18 months ago I couldn’t pot a ball, I was 53rd in the world and looked like falling off the tour. Now things can’t get much better. It’s going to give me the self belief.'