John Higgins produced an awesome display to march into the British Open final at Brighton today, beating Shaun Murphy 6-0 in only 74 minutes.
Higgins has struggled since winning the title three years ago and came to the tournament down in tenth place in the provisional rankings.
But a slight alteration to his cue has worked wonders and Higgins completed victory with a magnificent 144 total clearance.
Higgins, the 1998 world champion, has not won a title since capturing the Irish Masters in March 2002, but played with great confidence to dismiss the challenge of Murphy, who was appearing in his first major semi-final.
The world number 48 only scored 10 points in the first three frames as Higgins took control, winning the third with a break of 114.
Murphy could have won the fourth but broke down on 50. Higgins made 57, fluking the yellow, and was later lucky to snooker Murphy on the pink before potting it for 4-0.
Higgins then ran through the fifth with a break of 89 and set a new high break target with his 144, which supersedes his 141 from an earlier round.
The 28-year-old Scot now faces the winner of the other semi-final between Ronnie O'Sullivan and Stephen Maguire in Sunday's final.
