|
|
|
| October 9, 2001 | Tuesday | Rajab 21, 1422 |
Higgins completes double hat trick
NEWCASTLE (England), Oct 8: Scotland’s John Higgins completed a double hat trick — and took his earnings to more than £250,000 in the space of just seven weeks — at Newcastle’s Telewest Arena Sunday night.
Higgins beat Glaswegian Graeme Dott 9-6 in the final of the Stan James British Open to lift the trophy for the third time in seven years and become the first player to win the opening three tournaments of the season.
Winner of the Champions Cup in Brighton in August and the Regal Masters in Glasgow last month, Higgins has now captured the first world ranking event of the season.
The 26-year-old ‘Wizard of Wishaw’ is in magical form at the moment. He recovered from a shaky start to pull away from Dott and pocket the £92,500 first prize.
Shattered earlier in the week after attending the birth of his first child Pierce, he regained his energy and his focus to underline the fact that he is currently the dominant force in snooker.
When Dott took the first two frames — the opener from 48-0 behind with a superb 78 clearance — he had already done better than on his only previous appearance in the final of a world ranking tournament, the 1999 Regal Scottish in Aberdeen, where he was hammered 9-1 by Stephen Hendry.
The 24-year-old, who has broken into the top 16 for the first time this season at No 14, has improved every year since turning professional in 1994.
By his own admission, it was more a case of Ronnie O’Sullivan failing to perform than his own abilities that enabled him to pull off a shock 6-4 victory over the world champion in the semifinals. Higgins was always likely to be a tougher nut to crack and so it proved.
Trailing 3-1 at the interval, the world No 3 simply moved up a gear. Breaks of 39, 90, 61 and 49 gave him the next four frames and a 5-3 advantage to take into the night’s final session.
When a break of 93 made it five in a row he was threatening to run away with the match. Dott, however, is a gritty competitor and he responded with a break of 100 — his first ton of the tournament — to cut the deficit to 6-4.
He won the 11th frame too when his opponent broke down on 45, missing the black off its spot, but a clearance of 112 — his fourth century of the week — soon restored Higgins’ two-frame cushion.
Dott was making too many errors to apply real pressure to Higgins. He missed a straightforward red in the 13th frame, which Higgins sealed with a 36 clearance.
A scrappy 14th frame went Dott’s way but when he missed a tough brown into the top right-hand pocket in the next, Higgins cleared to the pink to seal victory. It may not have been vintage Higgins but no one could deny him his place in the history books.
|
|
|
|
