Higgins wins with clinical display

John Higgins went about his work like a surgeon. The 24-year-old Scot, more out of form than in form this season, took possession of the table at the Benson and Hedges Irish Masters at Goffs, Kill, Co Kildare yesterday.

There was little Stephen Hendry could do. That glacial middle distance stare of the three times champion and current world champion was much in evidence as Higgins continued on from his imperious morning session to dominate the final six frames for a 9-4 victory and £70,000 to add to £27,500 for the maximum break and £3,000 for the highest break.

There were thoughts that Hendry might stage a comeback in much the same fashion as he did last year when trailing England's Steven Lee 4-8, making an astonishing comeback to win five frames in succession and the match 9-8.

"I just needed one match under my belt. It was a big turning point beating Jimmy (White). It gave me more confidence that I'd had," said Higgins.

"Stephen probably didn't play anywhere near his best but I didn't give him many chances and was scoring heavily when I got to the table. I'll certainly go to the World Championships now feeling that I'm capable of winning it."

A dejected Hendry went straight to the point.

"Two centuries in two frames doesn't add up to much in a 17-frame match," he said afterwards. "I didn't perfom that well. He performed brilliantly. I could have been a lot more accurate."

Higgins simply denied his opponent the oxygen of table time. Breaks of 94, 60, 109 and 73 in the evening session after jumping to an afternoon 4-3 lead, kept Hendry pinned to his seat, Higgins's unfussy style and seamless cueing action effortlessly pushing the balls around the table. There were few flaws, none serious enough to give Hendry even the smallest of footholds.

In the early session Higgins had built a lead of 4-3 over Hendry in what was the first all Scottish final in the event's 23-year history.

The younger of the two Scots compiled breaks of 60, 97 and 128 in what was an exceptionally high-quality afternoon's play.

It also left the first ever Irish Masters 147 player requiring five more frames from the evening session to win the title for the first time. Higgins has been to Goffs four times, reaching the semi-finals in 1998.

However Hendry, three times champion, typically remained detached from the pressure and subsequently provided clear evidence that he was not about to fracture in the face of a player clearly on form.

Back-to-back centuries from the 31-year-old of 101 and 115 stopped the charge and levelled the match 2-2. Those breaks also took his century career total to 499 - one century away from becoming the first player in the history of the game to make 500. No other player has passed the 300 mark, with Steve Davis in second place with 275. In the end Hendry left it like that, probably leaving the final century for the next big event on home ground in Scotland, The Open, to reach that landmark.

But Higgins was undeterred by the early scoring blitz. A break of 128 - the 174th century of his career - restored the advantage to go 4-2 up before Hendry hit back for 4-3.

But the night belonged to Higgins. The 94 break took him to 53, the 60 break to 6-3 before he let Hendry in for a nerveless 64 for 6-4. But once again Higgins followed up with a century and a 73 to lead 8-4, prompting ill-founded images of last year's come back.