Trump beats Higgins to win world snooker champion

SHEFFIELD, Britain - Judd Trump breezed past four-time winner John Higgins 18-9 to win his first world snooker championship title at Crucible here on Monday.

The 29-year-old, who surrendered a 10-7 advantage in the 2011 final to Higgins, took a dominant 12-5 lead after Sunday's competition and extended the lead to 16-9 after the third session in the afternoon.

He made two breaks of 94 and 62 to seal the victory in the night's fourth session, winning the trophy for the first time and a total prize money of 500,000 pounds, the biggest in snooker history.

Trump became the first player to earn one million pounds of prize money in a single season and the first player under 30 to lift the trophy since Neil Robertson of Australia in 2010.

The 43-year-old Higgins, who won the title here in 1998, 2007, 2009 and 2011, lost the last three finals, beaten by Mark Selby in 2017 and Mark Williams in 2018. He is the only player to lose three world finals in a row apart from Jimmy White, who was runner-up five times in succession from 1990-94.

"It's surreal at the moment," Trump said. "It's going to take a while for that to sink in. John brought the best out of me as he always does. I was prepared for such a massive battle so the scoreline to win a world championship final was incredible for me.

"It's hard to put the feeling into words.

"Everything I went for seemed to be going in. My concentration has improved a lot this season. I have limited the number of balls I am missing and winning a lot more frames in one visit.

"I'll keep putting the work next season and go back with the same hunger. It will be nice to sit back in the major events without people asking me when I'm going to win them. I can go into every tournament now a bit more relaxed and give it my best shot."

Higgins, competing in his eighth final, said: "He was unstoppable, he really was. He was unbelievable.

"I've got to try and take the positives I suppose, I'm proud of making three finals in a row. This one's not as tough to take as the previous two. I've basically forgotten about this one already because there's nothing I could have done, he was just too good."