John Higgins became snooker’s world champion for the third time on Monday, sealing an 18-9 win over Shaun Murphy after just three frames of the final session.
The Scot added to his wins in 1998 and 2007 with a comfortable victory, never looking back after his brilliant Sunday night session when he won the last six frames to go 11-5 clear.
Higgins returned to the table for the concluding session on Monday evening with a 16-8 lead from a dominant performance earlier in the day and before long he was within one frame of the world crown.
He went in search of a 147 in the session's opener, but was knocked off the table at 48. However, a disappointing missed black by Murphy saw the Scot step back up and he punished the 2005 champion in ruthless fashion.
Frame 26 could have been the end but Murphy gave himself a stay of execution with a calm and composed break of 59 to pull it back to 17-9.
But the 27th was bossed by Higgins and a closing break of 73 sealed his third Crucible crown. He did miss a yellow that would have kept him on course for the tournament's 84th century, but that was irrelevant and his family joined him in celebrating a well-deserved final success.
Higgins never looked like he would miss out after Sunday night's six in a row and Monday afternoon’s first four frames prior to the mid-session interval were equally telling.
Murphy could easily have won three or indeed all of them, but crucial errors at crucial times, as well as a couple of excellent shots from Higgins means that the Scot was 14-6 in the clear and just four won frames from victory by the mid-session interval. The remaining four afternoon sessions were shared equally, Higgins winning an error-ridden final frame of the session for a 16-8 lead.
Murphy needed to fire from the off on the day but a missed yellow allowed Higgins back on the table and he won the final's 17th frame by 16 to go seven clear.
A determined Murphy then rattled off a break of 91 to bring the gap back to six and the 19th frame finished in stunning style with the duo deadlocked at 49-49 and three balls left on the table. They traded blows on the blue briefly before Higgins sank what looked an impossible effort to the top left pocket from a seemingly blocked position. Amazingly, he snookered himself on the pink in the bottom right corner from that pot, but coolly sank it with a double to avoid the black, sinking Murphy’s spirits further.
And those spirits were well sapped by the interval when another missed effort, this time on a red, allowed Higgins back on the table again for a 76-43 win on the frame and within touching distance of reclaiming the crown Ronnie O’Sullivan relieved him of 12 months ago.
As play resumed after the interval, Murphy gave himself hope by winning frames 21 and 22. In the first of those, the Englishman got onto the table after a skewed Higgins effort and a brilliant potted red with the rest set him up to stop the rot.
Playing with the sort of attitude that he must go for everything now, a white in off a red attempt could have killed his chances of two on the trot but he got back on the table to come from 36 behind for back-to-back frames, sealed with a succession of fine shots.
That made it 14-8, but Higgins won his 15th at the next after Murphy hit the black trying to escape a safety. The 24th frame was then riddled with errors as one player then the other looked like he was going to give it up.
Another brave but unsuccessful potting effort from Murphy let Higgins back in at 23-23. The Scot then got stuck unable to hit a red, Murphy missed a plant and Higgins then gave him the advantage once more by missing his red. The duo traded a further pair of errors before a Murphy foul handed the frame to Higgins, leaving him needing just two more to be crowned world champion in Monday evening's final session.
And it took less than an hour for him to do just that as Murphy joined Michael Holt, Jamie Cope, Mark Selby and Mark Allen in the champion's 2009 wake. The win sees Higgins join O'Sullivan and John Spencer on three world titles, with just Steve Davis and Ray Reardon - with six - and top dog Stephen Hendry - with seven - having more.