Higgins resists Day to take title

John Higgins held off a superb comeback from Ryan Day to win his first ranking event for 18 months at the Royal London Watches Grand Prix in Glasgow.

The Scot opened up a 5-2 lead in an impressive opening session and extended it to 7-2 before Day found his form.

The Welshman, seeking his first ranking title in his third final, won five of the next six frames to get back to 8-7.

But Higgins held his nerve to win 9-7. securing his fourth Grand Prix crown and his first success on home soil.

It was the first title for the "Wizard of Wishaw" since his second World Championship victory in May 2007, and his 19th ranking title in all.

The opening session gave little sign of the drama to come as Higgins compiled four breaks of more than 50, the best an 85 in the second frame, to open up a three-frame advantage over the world number eight, who replied with breaks of 64 and 82.

That became five frames when Higgins had further runs of 62 and 52 on the resumption to make it 7-2.

"I was 7-2 up but I was feeding off Ryan because he didn't play nearly as well as he has all week - he has definitely been the player of the tournament," Higgins said.

"I knew once he got his cue arm going he would come back at me really strongly. I was just relieved to get over the line and really proud I have won."

Day rattled in a break of 69 to kick-start his revival and then won a topsy-turvy 11th frame on the black to go in at the interval only 7-4 down.

An 89 further reduced the deficit before the Welshman won a tight 13th frame on the pink to cut the gap to one.

Read full final report at the BBC Website