A nailbiting finish to the CityWest Irish Masters final saw Ronnie O'Sullivan triumph in the final frame thanks to a superb break of 128.
O'Sullivan's 10-9 victory came after Scotland John Higgins battled back to level things up at 5-5, 7-7, 8-8 and 9-9. However in the crucial frame he was found wanting as O'Sullivan made all the pressure shots while compiling his huge final break.
World number one O'Sullivan ended the first session 5-4 ahead after Higgins hit back to win the last two frames of the afternoon.
Trailing 2-0, defending champion Higgins cleared yellow to pink to win the third frame and made a break of 86 to draw level. O'Sullivan swept 5-2 ahead with runs of 40, 52 and 68 but Higgins stopped the rot with a contribution of 60 in the eighth frame.
And the Scot secured the last frame of the session with a 131 total clearance, his fifth century of the tournament, to remain in contention for the £48,000 first prize.
It wasn't to be and Higgins is still searching for his first ranking title since he won the British Open in October 2001. However his performance here showed that he is back to his best. His career has been revitalised following some coaching advice from former professional Richy McDonald, who spotted a flaw in the world number four's technique.
O'Sullivan becomes only the ninth player in the game's history to win back-to-back ranking titles after triumphing at the European Open in Torquay earlier this month. The 27-year-old set himself the target prior to Torquay of winning two of the three titles available in the build-up to the Embassy World Championship, which starts on April 19. On Saturday, he threatened to withdraw from next week's Regal Scottish Open in Edinburgh to give himself time to rest before the 17-day Crucible event gets underway.
Latest score:J Higgins (Sco) 9-10 R O'Sullivan (Eng)35-98 (60) 0-62 78-45 (52) 86-0 (86) 29-92 (52) 1-74 (68) 55-80 83-0 (60) 131-0 (131) 23-69 (68) 92-0 (92) 79-0 (73) 5-115 (82) 87-14 (52) 0-76 (76) 127-0 (123) 0-128 (128)
The first session of nine frames began at 2.00pm while the final session commenced at 8.00pm.
Filed by Duty Journalist
