John Higgins 18 - 9 Shaun Murphy.
Well done to John Higgins who won his third World Snooker Championship tonight. He beat Shaun Murphy by a more than comfortable 18 frames to 9. He now becomes only the fourth player to win three or more world titles at the Crucible. The others are Steve Davis (6), Stephen Hendry (7) and Ronnie O’Sullivan (3).
Higgins also won the top prize of a massive £250,000. His other World Championship wins came in 1998 and 2007. He is also the oldest player to lift the trophy since Dennis Taylor in the 1985 epic final.
At the end of the match, even Steve Davis conceded that Higgins was snookers greatest all round player. However, although Higgins was truly brilliant this year and is in the top four players ever, I personally feel that Steve Davis is still the greatest all rounder.
Higgins had many tough matches on his way to his win this year, with two 13-12 wins over Jamie Cope and Mark Selby and Mark Allen marking a final surge against him in the semis.
Higgins is now back up to number four in the world rankings, although I think the two best players over recent years are John and Ronnie.
He can be very proud of this win, as some of his contemporaries have had trouble keeping up, like Matthew Stevens and Mark Williams. This year’s World Championship has shown the next generation coming through with the likes of Neil Robertson and Mark Allen.
The next few years will prove interesting with many new players coming through, with some from China. I hope John can win a fourth world title soon and dominate the game for the next 2 or 3 years.