Robertson wins tense final

The 25-year-old from Melbourne was 6-2 in front going in to the evening session at the Newport Centre, but could only sit and watch as an incredible blitz of nerveless potting - along with the odd slice of fortune - saw Higginson win six frames in succession to move to within a frame of victory.

Robertson fought back with a fluent clearance of 92 before fittingly taking the match to a deciding frame with a 59 in the 16th frame.

And he held his nerve in a tense, nervy final frame to finally end 500-1-outsider Higginson's dream week.

Higginson was bidding to become only the second player in history to win a tournament as an unranked player, following Welsh legend Terry Griffiths 1979 World Championship victory.

Despite the defeat, it remains an incredible week for the Englishman, who fired eight centuries - including a debut 147 in his quarter-final against Ali Carter - in his run of nine victories that took him through qualifying and all the way to the final.

The Widnes-based player - who was not even in the top 100 in the world prior to this season - is enjoying a stunning 2007 following a less-than-average 12-year pro career.

He had never even been beyond the last 48 of a ranking tournament before his run to the last 16 at the Malta Cup last month sparked a change of fortune that has catapulted him in to the snooker elite.

The 29-year-old takes a £17,500 winner's cheque back to Cheshire, plus £22,000 for his quarter-final 147 - significant sums considering he had won less than £70,000 in prize money in his 12-year pro career prior to this season.

Remarkably, Higginson - who will rise to 40 in the provisional rankings - will not be at season's next ranking event, the China Open at the end of March, as he failed to qualify.

Robertson, who lifted the Grand Prix trophy in October, becomes the first player for two years to win two ranking events in the same season.

Robertson also becomes only the fourth non-British or Irish player to win more than one world ranking event, after Canada's Cliff Thorburn, Thailand's James Wattana and China's Ding Junhui.