Congratulations to Andrew Higginson who has defeated reigning world champion John Higgins 4-1 in the final of the PTC5 event to take his first professional title and the top prize of £10,000…
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It has been a while coming for Widnes’ finest but Andrew Higginson has today gone all the way at PTC5 with a tremendous 4-1 victory against four-times world champion John Higgins.
Having already seen off Ian McCulloch, Dave Harold and Jack Lisowski earlier in the day, Andrew began the final by taking a close opening frame on the pink following chances for both to make the perfect start.
The former Welsh Open finalist looked to continue his form in frame two as he began with four reds and four blacks only to miss a relatively straightforward pot on 63. Somehow despite the green being awkward, the Higgins counter looked to be inevitable and he duly cleared with 78 to draw level and give Andrew something to think about.
For a while it looked as though this might prove to be a key moment early in the match as Higginson missed on just five early in frame three allowing John back to the table with a chance to score heavily. Crucially however Higgins could not make the most of his opportunity and Andrew was able to edge back in front with 78 of his own to the pink.
A scruffy fourth frame saw chances for both players again but noticeably it was John who just began to miss a few as Andrew moved within one frame of the title.
The fourth again saw chances for both but as Andrew took to the table with five reds in the open and the colours on or close to their spots, it looked like the outcome would be a formality. Though there was to prove a twist as a poor positional shot left him awkward on the penultimate red which he would then fail to cut back, a missed black off the spot from Higgins shortly afterwards was to be his final shot.
So congratulations again to Higginson who has enjoyed a consistent, if not spectacular start to the season up until this point, winning at least one match in each of the ranking events staged to date. His talent has been evident ever since his run in the spring of 2007 which saw him reach the quarter-finals in Malta followed by his first ranking event final in Newport, but since then he has not been able to quite reproduce this form in front of the cameras. Having now proven his class in the cubicles it will be interesting to see how whether he can continue his push for the top 16 and begin to progress further in the major events once again.
For John meanwhile it has been a much-improved week and without question his most impressive tournament since the 2011 World Championship. While he is still not quite back to his best, he reminded us of why he is still the man to beat and one who should never be written off.
Elsewhere today there were good runs for Jack Lisowski and Barry Hawkins, the latter recovering from 3-0 down to defeat Michael White at the last 16 stage despite having been detained by Stuart Bingham until 2:30am this morning in his previous match. Dave Harold meanwhile boosted his chances of a return to the top 48 with a quarter-final appearance before falling to eventual winner Higginson.
So now there is just the PTC6 event between us and the first mid-season rankings revision and with plenty still to play for I will tomorrow be staging a live chat for anyone who wishes to drop by with any questions about the rankings to do so.