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John Higgins ends 'best week' by thrashing Ronnie O'Sullivan 10-3 in Players Championship final

John Higgins
The win gave Higgins a first ranking title since the 2018 Welsh Open

John Higgins said he has had the "best week" of his career after he thrashed Ronnie O'Sullivan 10-3 to win the Players Championship.

Higgins, who had won two matches 6-0 and the other 6-1 to get to the final, knocked in breaks of 142 and 138 on the way to a 5-0 lead over O'Sullivan.

O'Sullivan produced a 144 to trail 6-2 but Higgins took three of the next four frames to lead 9-3.

The Scot then hit another century as he wrapped up victory with a 127 break.

Victory at Milton Keynes earned four-time world champion Higgins the £125,000 top prize as well as a 31st ranking title.

"It's the best week I've ever had," Higgins told ITV4. "I've won world titles and different tournaments but, for the whole week, the way I've felt and the calibre of players I've faced, I've managed to win quite convincingly.

"It's not really like me to do that. Normally, I'd be scrapping it out in final-frame deciders.

"This week, I've done a Ronnie by going through the field pretty easy. It's a brilliant feeling."

Higgins had not played six-time world champion O'Sullivan in the final of a ranking event since he beat his fellow 45-year-old 9-2 at the 2005 Grand Prix.

This was a similarly one-sided win on the back of Higgins making a change to his technique by moving his cue tip closer to the white ball when he addresses it.

O'Sullivan said: "John was just unbelievable. Once you don't punish John - and he is playing as well as he is - you do a lot of sitting in your chair.

"Masterclass today and it's good to see such a great player back winning."

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