Scotland’s John Higgins and Ireland’s Ken Doherty staged amazing secrecoveries yesterday in a highly entertaining final of the tournament at the Portomaso Hilton Conference Centre. At the end it was Doherty who triumphed 9-8.

Trailing Ken Doherty 5-2 at the end of the first session, Higgins won six frames on the trot to take a commanding 8-5 lead. Doherty then halted Higgins’ splendid run and won the 14th frame to make it 8-6 after Higgins missed an easy red, and the Irishman went on to win the next two frames to level at eight-all, ensuring the final went to the wire.

Higgins was in much brighter form than he was the previous day when he struggled to overcome Dominic Dale in the semi-final. Yesterday, though still not at his best, he played some magnificent snooker in the second session which included breaks of 61, 55, 90 and 96.

Still the final’s highest break went to Doherty who scored a good 105 in the sixth frame which enabled him to go ahead 4-2 . In that first session, Doherty seemed to be cruising home to an easy win as he also compiled good breaks of 67, 65, 55 and 70 to take a three-frame lead (5-2). And when Higgins led 8-5, it seemed as if he was home and dry until he missed a red which gave a lifeline to Doherty. But Doherty hit back impressively to win the final four frames with other good runs of 61 and 63.

Speaking soon after being presented with the trophy by Jeffrey Cutajar of the Malta Tourism Authority, Doherty said: “It has been a fantastic tournament and it was great to have beaten a man as in-form as Higgins is at present. When I was 8-5 down, I thought it was all over, but I am a fighting Irishman and always believed I could fight back.”