Shock win for Dale

Dominic Dale, a 100 to 1 pretournament outsider, last night defeated world number two John Higgins 9-6 to win the £350,000 Grand Prix in Bournemouth.

World number 54 Dale, who defeated Jimmy White in Saturday night's semi-final, held his nerve superbly to notch a famous victory over the 1994 Grand Prix winner.

Dale collected a £60,000 winner's cheque, while Higgins, a runner-up for the second time in three years, picked up £32,000.

Dale, following in the footsteps of fellow Welshman Mark Williams who won the title 12 months ago, finished off in style with breaks of 120 and 71 after Higgins had closed the gap to trail just 7-6.

"I don't know where those last two frames came from," the 25year-old said.

"I've said all tournament I've had nothing to lose and all the pressure has been on my opponent and that's the way I approached this final," he said.