Players Championship snooker final result: John Higgins thrashes Ronnie O'Sullivan 10-3
John Higgins beat Ronnie O'Sullivan in the final of the Players Championship on Sunday.
John Higgins reacts to Players Championship Snooker victory
Ronnie O'Sullivan fell to defeat to John Higgins in the final of the Players Championship on Sunday to suffer his fourth successive loss in a final. 'The Rocket' made the 58th final of his career to match Stephen Hendry's record but was denied his 38th ranking title by Higgins, who clinched his first since 2018 in sensational style.
O'Sullivan came from 3-0 down in the semi-finals to beat Barry Hawkins 6-4 but after losing to Jordan Brown in the Welsh Open final a week ago, was once again bettered in a showpiece match, this time by Scot Higgins.
The two-time Players Championship winner was sat down for large swathes of the final as Higgins continued his imperious form.
His best ever performance in this tournament, having never previously got past the quarter-finals, the 45-year-old dropped just one frame in his three games before the final.
And he was brilliant against O'Sullivan to claim his 31st ranking tournament triumph and the £125,000 first prize.
Players Championship final result
RESULT: Ronnie O'Sullivan 3-10 John Higgins
Afternoon session: 18-64, 0-103 (92), 21-69 (68), 0-142 (142)
0-138 (138), 87-26 (82), 40-70, 148-0 (144)
Evening session: 4-67 (51), 110-0 (110), 0-70 (70), 0-77 (77), 127-4 (127)
Ronnie O'Sullivan's route to the final
First round: O'Sullivan 6-5 Ding Junhui
Quarter-finals: O'Sullivan 6-1 Jack Lisowski
Semi-finals: O'Sullivan 6-4 Barry Hawkins
John Higgins' route to the final
First round: Higgins 6-0 Jordan Brown
Quarter-finals: Higgins 6-0 Mark Selby
Semi-finals: Higgins 6-1 Kyren Wilson
O'Sullivan's Higgins praise
O'Sullivan was full of praise for Higgins after his quarter-final win over Mark Selby, who the Scot thrashed 6-0.
"I watched it. It was ridiculous. I couldn't watch it in the end. It was granite. It was evil, evil," said O'Sullivan.
"John just showed what a class player he is because obviously Selby is one of the best in the business at winning those types of matches.
"But Higgins, you could see it was almost like he didn't want it to end. It was ridiculous snooker really.
"That's probably the toughest match of snooker I've seen in my life. It was bordering on obscenely tough.
"Why would you want to be that tough? It was incredible snooker. It's not easy to play. It's okay playing defensive snooker, but you have to play it well.
"John and Selby play it better than anybody so if you can play it well, you play it.
"For me, it's a waste of time trying to play that stuff because I do a lot of hard work 80 percent of the time, but then mess it up with one shot.
"They are very astute around that stuff. It was a real purist's game of snooker.
"If he starts doing that to me, I'm going to be sitting in that chair quite a lot."