SHEFFIELD (England), May 5 John Higgins won the World Snooker Championship final with a commanding 18-9 victory over Shaun Murphy at the Crucible Theatre on Monday.

The Scot's success saw him to his third world crown to go with his 1998 and 2007 triumphs.

The 33-year-old Higgins, whose 11-5 overnight lead was the largest in a Crucible final, was 16-8 in front at the end of Monday's first session.

And when the match resumed he'd made the most of yet another Murphy error to move to within one of the title.

But the Englishman produced a 59 break to keep Higgins at bay.

However, he was merely delaying the inevitable and, after Murphy broke down in the next, Higgins rounded off the match with a break of 73.—AFP