This weekend saw John Higgins win his first ranking event for a year and a half following victory over the impressive Ryan Day at the Royal London Watches Grand Prix. Held in Glasgow, the competition win was the Scot’s first success in his home country, his nineteenth ranking title, and his fourth Grand Prix crown.

Higgins had not won a snooker title since his victory in the World Championship in the summer of 2007 and was desperate to make an impression in this competition.

However, the match did not all go John Higgins’ way. Indeed, Ryan Day, who was fighting for his first ranking title in just his third final, gave Higgins a real scare with an impressive comeback.

Day was keen to win his first ranking title following unfortunate defeats in his previous two finals, held in Malta and Shanghai.

The Scot was in good form during the opening session and managed to open up a 5-2 lead. Higgins seemed to be competing on a different level to Day, who was being truly humbled by the Scot’s magnificent performance.

He managed to amass four breaks of over 50, the best being an 85 in just the second frame. Higgins continued to extend his lead over the world’s eighth best snooker player, bringing the score to 7-2. However, at this point, Day seemed to remember where he was and what he was fighting for.

Five out of the following six frames were won by the Welshman and the match was delicately poised at 8-7 following a break of 83 from Day. However, Higgins managed to overcome Day’s inspiring comeback, which was sadly too little too late for the Welshman. The match ultimately finished 9-7 to Higgins.

Snooker pundits were quick to point out that Day must have been exhausted following his tense semi-final victory over Ali Carter. However, the Welshman refused to use exhaustion as an excuse and managed to be truly magnanimous in defeat.

Day berated himself for being “slow out of the blocks” and spoke of his disappointment at the overall result. Whilst he revealed he was happy at the courage of his comeback, which was nearly enough to beat Higgins, he ended by stating that “John deserved to win” as he was the best player during the match.

The Scot, noticeably relieved after his victory, spoke about the impact of Ryan Day’s initially poor form on his own game. After noticing that the Welshman was not performing to the best of his ability, he began to gain motivation from his opponent’s failure.

Higgins believed it was just a matter of time before Day “got his cue arm going” so needed to make the most of his slow start.

It was nice to see a smile on the face of John Higgins again and the player spoke of his pride at the result. Despite his defeat, Ryan Day can console himself with Higgins’ words, after the Scot stated he was “the player of the tournament”. After this performance, it is surely just a matter of time before the Welshman wins his first ranking title.

Written by Charlotte Cook