Ken Doherty's fighting spirit brought him back from the dead to take the Malta Cup crown at the Portomaso Hilton Conference Centre on The Dubliner staged a second amazing recovery on the night – the first was by Higgins – to win the last four frames and beat John Higgins 9-8.
"I was dead and buried at 8-5," said the 36-year-old, who broke a five-year drought without a ranking title. "I thought I had blown it. I just told myself to stick in there and I never say die. I was trying to recapture magic moments from the past like my world semi-final against Paul Hunter (when he recovered a 15-9 deficit to win 17-16). You always have a chance as long as you have belief.
"The break in the last frame was one of the best of my career. I was hitting the ball so cleanly under pressure and pulling out pots from everywhere.
"This is my most important tournament win since the (1997) World Championship. I never doubted my ability and that I would win a title again, but I'm not getting any younger and the longer time goes on the harder it gets.
"I've never lost my hunger and appetite for the game. I spent a long time banging my head against a brick wall and not getting results but I kept putting the hard graft in.
"I will get carried away tonight but after that it will be back to practice. I hope I've still got one world title in me."
Higgins admitted to feeling "numb" after missing the chance to win his third major title of the season. "It will take me a couple of days to get over this, it was a crazy final," said the Scot.
"At 8-5 I was hitting the ball really well, but I twitched on that (penultimate) red. It wasn't pressure because I felt I was so far ahead. I was thinking about what I was going to do when I won, and I lost concentration.
"After that I fell apart and Ken got stronger. In the first session my timing wasn't there and it went again towards the end, I was hitting the ball too hard.
"He made a fantastic break in the last frame and he probably deserved to win the tournament as he's played better over the week."