John Higgins was glad to eventually get his hands on the Champion of Champions trophy after a 10-7 victory over Ronnie O’Sullivan in Coventry.

The Scot fought back in Saturday’s evening session having trailed 5-4, but momentarily lost concentration during the presentation ceremony and dropped the trophy onto the table – much to the amusement of all in attendance at the Ricoh Arena.

Higgins won three of the four frames ahead of the interval to lead O’Sullivan 7-6, before the five-time world champion posted the first century break of the final with 130 to level things up again.

However, Higgins then returned runs of 76 and 86 to take him to the brink of the triumph, and another half-century break of 58 in the 17th frame saw the Scot through to secure the winner’s cheque of £100,000 to make it a lucrative couple of weeks following his victory at the China Championship.

“I am delighted to put my name to that list of Champion of Champions winners, it has been a good two weeks and you have to roll with it when it is going for you,” Higgins said.

“I thought I had missed the boat at 5-4, he missed a couple, but I never took advantage. I was thinking, is that going to give him confidence and then he will go on a roll? I stuck with it and felt great coming into tonight.

“There is no better feeling than doing it in front of a packed audience, playing against somebody as good as Ronnie.”

O’Sullivan, twice winner of the Champion of Champions trophy in 2013 and 2014, admitted he just could not match Higgins’ consistency.

“I tried to hang on in there today and make a game of it,” he said.

“John is on a roll at the minute, he is really starting to play as he did a few years ago, so for me he is probably the best player in the world at the moment.”