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But a visibly shaken Higgins shrugged it off to continue the break in the 28th frame, and went on to make 123 before the mid-session interval. Williams told him: "Don't take any notice of that, John." Referee Eirian Williams then asked security to show the fan out of the arena.

At the end an emotional Higgins – whose father died this year – pointed to the heavens before punching the air. He said: "It didn't put me off, although I was a bit rattled at the time. All credit to Mark Williams for what he said to me when we were hard at it. It tells you all about him. Of course it was emotional at the end, it's been a long 12 months and it would be unbelievable to win it this time. It was my mother's birthday, she'll be here tomorrow."

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Davis: "Higgins did a Houdini act to get past Mark Williams in the semi-final. He can play fantastic snooker when the chips are down and not playing at his best. He has this brilliant B game we are always talking about.

"He has shown great character this year to come back after things weren't going right for him and to dominate the second half of the season and to get in the final here, you can't ask for more than that. And he could cement himself as one of the legends of the game if he secured his fourth world crown."

Doherty: "Higgins is one of the best players I have ever played and seen play. He is so resilient, has a great temperament and he's a born winner. He never gives up.

"I played him at the Crucible in the 2003 quarter-finals - the year I lost in the final to Mark Williams. I was 10-0 up and I still wasn't confident! He got it back to 10-7. He's such a fighter. If you were going into battle and you had to pick a snooker player you'd pick Higgins above anybody else.

"And if you were going to design a snooker player you'd design it from the mould of John Higgins. He's got century breaks, career wins, World Championship wins, maybe a fourth a crown, great safety and great tactical nous. He's got every department covered. He's a trier and you can't teach that . It's in-bred and it's the quality of the highest order.

"When things aren't going his way, he can scrap. He almost trailed 10-5 to Williams which would have been an uphill battle, even for him. But he scrapped back to 9-7 and turned the match on its head. Williams had his foot on his throat, he took his foot off and Higgins duly obliged.

"Any budding professionals or professionals on the circuit breaking through, watch what Higgins does when things aren't going well. Everybody can play well and do the fancy shots, but when you're not playing well - that's when a winner comes to the fore."