Higgins triumphs in Germany

John Higgins celebrated a successful return to professional snooker after easing to victory in the final of his comeback tournament in Germany on Sunday night.

The Scot, playing in his first event since his recent six-month ban came to an end, beat Shaun Murphy 4-2 in the final of the Euro Players Tour Championship in Hamm.

The victory sees Higgins earn 2,000 rankings points and moves him up one place to third in the world.

“I just came here hoping to get a few matches under my belt, so I’m delighted to win it,” said Higgins.

“I had to be realistic coming here as the other players had all been competing regularly for four or five months. I knew I was good enough to win it but I didn’t expect that much.”

Higgins booked his place in the final after seeing off Anthony Hamilton in the last eight, before enjoying a 4-1 win over fellow Scot Graeme Dott in the semi-finals.

Higgins set the tone for the final with an opening break of 132 before he moved two frames clear on the back of a 66.

Murphy responded with breaks of 64 and 50 to pull level, but Higgins recovered with efforts of 95 and 53 sufficient to get him across the line.

Reflecting on his comeback tournament as a whole, Higgins added: “The first match was the hardest and that was the worst I played, Joe Jogia had chances to beat me. After that I settled down and felt a lot better.

“The draw was bound to be hard as the standard is so high now. Martin Gould was a very tough match as he’s the most improved player on the circuit, and then to beat two of the best in the world in Graeme and Shaun in my last two matches was amazing really.”

Higgins, 35, was playing in his first tournament since April after being suspended following allegations made against him by the News of the World. He was cleared of match-fixing in September but fined £75,000 after admitting breaching rules around betting.

“I’m delighted, not just for me but for my family and friends,” Higgins added on worldsnooker.com.

“The reception from the snooker community was exceptionally warm and encouraging. I didn’t expect anything else – these are players I have known for years. They know John Higgins and I know them.

“I promised in September that I intended to pick up many more trophies, this is just the start.”