World champion Zhao Xintong celebrates 'dream' win over John Higgins at Players Championship - 'I still can't believe it'

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Zhao Xintong and John Higgins were tied 7-7 in the Players Championship final at the Telford International Centre in England on Sunday night before the Chinese world champion then put together a string of three exceptional breaks to claim an impressive 10-7 win. Speaking after his win, Zhao declared his victory over the former No. 1 to be a "dream".

'Virtuoso display of snooker' - Zhao hits fifth century to seal 'ridiculously easy' final win

Video credit: TNT Sports

Zhao Xintong celebrated a "dream" Players Championship win over John Higgins as he won the final three frames to claimed the title 10-7 at the Telford International Centre.

Zhao’s win secured him a fifth consecutive final win and back-to-back tournaments after the World Grand Prix.

The 28-year-old had already won the World Grand Prix and Riyadh Season Championship earlier in the season, and he defeated former world No. 1 Higgins, who put in a dogged display.

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Speaking after his win, Zhao reflected on another success, saying: "I still can't believe it. I was in Hong Kong last week. I won the championship again. It's a dream. I can't believe that.

"I just want to do the best snooker. This week I played not really good, but the last three frames I played three good frames."

Looking ahead to his world championship title defence, he refused to be caught up in the pressure, adding: "I don't want to think a lot. I just want to enjoy the table, enjoy snooker."

Relive incredible first frame between Wakelin and Zhao in World Grand Prix clash

Video credit: TNT Sports

The pair had resumed at 4-4 after the afternoon session with the match evenly poised.

After the restart, Zhao played an awful safety shot to let Higgins back in at 26-4 ahead, and a clever break from the Scot moved him onto 49. At 71-38 up, Zhao was hanging on as he looked for a snooker to whittle down the deficit and after 48 safety shots - the same number as the opening eight frames - Higgins came out on top.

A confident break of 88 in the second frame of the session saw the match swing back to 5-5 but Higgins scrapped back to take the lead at 6-5 before frame 12.

Zhao moved 29 up and then a misjudged double gave Higgins an easy red near the bunched pack, and then missed a long red to give his opponent another chance to get back in the frame, but he could only move to 29-14 behind.

An outstanding long green then followed a miss on an easy red, as the Chinese player failed once more to build on his talent. Given another attempt, Zhao then cleared the remainder of the table with a break of 83.

With the scores at 6-6, it appeared a tense finish would be on the cards and Higgins went back in front as he came from behind after the restart, winning 77-71 as the match got back into action with some high scoring.

Another uncharacteristic miss on an easy red let Higgins back in at 25-0 behind but he squandered his chance to get back into the match as the reigning world champion dragged himself to 7-7 - and then found a higher level.

An exceptional 104 from Zhao put him back in front for the first time since he led at 4-3, and he extended his lead with another century - this time 126 - to leave him a frame from victory.

A break of 92 was just short of a hat-trick of triple figures but it was enough for glory.

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