Higgins wins epic final

Higgins began the day with a 12-4 lead but had to survive a spirited fightback from Selby, who won all six of the afternoon frames, before he could close out the match finishing at 00.55 BST, three minutes later than Graeme Dott and Peter Ebdon in 2006, to set a new record.

"I'm shattered," said Higgins.

"At 14-13 I was ready to throw the towel in because Mark was coming back superbly. I don't know how I did it. To come back under that sort of pressure was the best I have played in my life."

Only six frames were possible in the afternoon session due to the slow rate of play as the organisers decided to give the players a suitable break before the final evening session of the match.

Selby made breaks of 109, 65 and 62 as he produced his storming comeback grinding out six consecutive frames and threatened to snatch the match away from Higgins but the 23-year-old from Leicester, making only his third appearance at The Crucible, could not continue his momentum into the evening.

Higgins, who last reached the final in 2001 when he lost to Ronnie O'Sullivan, finally got on the board with the first frame of the evening before Selby re-established his dominance to take three of the next four frames to reduce the deficit 14-13.

A mistake on the pink in the 28th frame eventually spelled the end for Selby as Higgins, who will now start next season as world number one, re-discovered some of the form he showed the previous day snatching the final four frames and making breaks of 57, 129 and 77 to seal the match.

"From 12-4 down when I came out this morning, I said to myself I'm going to give it my best shot," Selby said.

"I didn't really think I could win it but when I got back to 12-10 I was believing I could. It was not to be. Hopefully I can come back next year and give it a better shot."