John Higgins ends title drought by retaining Championship League snooker crown against Judd Trump – 'It feels amazing'
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ByEurosport
Updated 02/03/2023 at 22:27 GMT
John Higgins won all four matches on Thursday on his way to completing a 3-1 win over Judd Trump in the Championship League final in Leicester. The free-scoring four-time world champion defended the invitational title he lifted last February to secure his spot in the Champion of Champions event later this year. Stream top snooker action live on discovery+, the Eurosport app and Eurosport.com
'What about that for a shot!' - Higgins makes superb clearance to double his lead
John Higgins completed a 3-1 win over Judd Trump in the Championship League final on Thursday to defend the invitational title and end a 13-month wait for a tournament victory in Leicester.
The Scotsman emulated his 3-2 win over Stuart Bingham in the same event last February by firing seven centuries over two days in a deserved victory at the city's Morningside Arena.
It is his fourth Championship League title triumph since 2017.
“It feels amazing," said Higgins after securing his 50th career title. "I played really well the last couple of days although it wasn’t looking good after losing my first match against Wilson 3-0 then 2-0 down to Stuart Bingham then if Stuart doesn’t go for a maximum, I think he was on 56, I’d have lost my first two matches 3-0 and 3-0."
"There was no way I was coming back from that, luckily enough I managed to scrape that result then I began to play well. I was delighted with the way I hit the ball.”
Higgins watched European Masters winner Kyren Wilson move 2-0 clear in the semi-finals with breaks of 137 and 85 before reeling off three straight frames to book his spot in the final with knocks of 86, 61 and 66.
The four-time world champion produced breaks of 62 and 78 in the final with Trump restoring parity at 1-1 courtesy of a 100 break, the 899th century of his career, in the second frame before Higgins dominated the fourth frame to seal his success.
The win secures the world No. 11 a £10,000 winner's cheque and a spot in the Champion of Champions in November but perhaps more importantly will boost his confidence ahead of his quest for a fifth world crown at the Crucible in Sheffield next month.
“It’s a big tournament in its own right now. It gets you into the Champion of Champions," said Higgins. "It’s brilliant to win it and hopefully, it can give me a bit of confidence. I got some work done to my cue, but I am going back to my roots with same size of cue. It seemed to work. It’s given me confidence. It’s all about confidence this game."
Trump had topped the winners' group on five points, but his only defeat of the section came against Higgins earlier on Thursday in a 3-2 reverse that was a sign of things to come as he produced 83 and 62 with his opponent responding courtesy of 89, 57, 100 and 75.
A 3-1 win over Xiao Guodong saw Higgins continue his heavy-scoring streak to claim third spot in the group in making breaks of 65, 116 and a sparkling 144, the highest of the group, after Xiao had opened with a fine 79 of his own.
Trump enjoyed a 3-0 win over Neil Robertson in the group stage courtesy of a century and two 50-plus breaks and the Masters champion emulated that scoreline against the Australian with runs of 86, 52 and 77 in a one-sided semi-final.
Jack Lisowski finished fifth on two points in the group alongside Bingham with Xiao propping up the seven-man winners' section on one point.
Thursday's Winners' Group results
- Final: Judd Trump 1-3 John Higgins
- Semi-final: Judd Trump 3-0 Neil Robertson
- Semi-final: Kyren Wilson 2-3 John Higgins
- Judd Trump 3-1 Stuart Bingham
- Kyren Wilson 3-1 Xiao Guodong
- Judd Trump 2-3 John Higgins
- Kyren Wilson 3-2 Jack Lisowski
- John Higgins 3-1 Xiao Guodong
- Jack Lisowski 3-1 Stuart Bingham
- Neil Robertson 0-3 Judd Trump
- Neil Robertson 3-2 Kyren Wilson
- Stuart Bingham 3-2 Xiao Guodong
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