Higgins holds off Selby to become latelatelate.com world champion

But it took a huge effort for the Scot, who will be world No 1 next season, to inflict an 18-13 defeat on brave Mark Selby, the 23-year-old qualifier who had trailed a distant 12-4 overnight.

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Pegged back: But John Higgins won the world title by claiming four frames in a row

Selby, a 40-1 shot at the start of the tournament, bounced back to fire six frames in a row and signal a mighty contest that finished even later than Graeme Dott's marathon with Peter Ebdon last year.

Higgins, now teetotal after being thrown off a flight from Malta last year, said: "I may have one glass of champagne just to toast it, but I'm better on the wagon! I thought I'd burst into tears, but I'm calm.

"I'm absolutely gone. At 14-13 I was ready to throw in the towel. I'm shattered - it's been a long 17 days."

It took 31-year-old Higgins until 12.55am to confirm his £220,000 winner's cheque, with Selby picking up a deserved career-best £110,000 reward for a comeback that prevented a bank holiday washout.

Selby had looked on course for the heaviest defeat since Jimmy White's 18-5 loss to Stephen Hendry at the height of his powers in 1993, but the younger man gave Higgins a tough 888.com final to remember.

Selby, who has shot into the elite top 16 for next season, said: "There was no way I was going to give in. I wanted to give it all I could and hopefully I'll be back next year to give him a better game."

One late finish to the most important match in the calendar is unfortunate, two is simply careless. Twelve months ago, Dott and Ebdon crawled to a Crucible finale that ended at 12.53am.

That latelatelate.com world championship final included a record 74-minute frame before Dott edged in front to take the world crown and share the criticism with Ebdon over the lack of entertainment value.

So close: But Mark Selby eventually lost out to John Higgins

But Dott made the valid point that the starting times, tailored to suit live television, suited hardly anybody else, including the players. "We were both dead on our feet out there," insisted the tough little Scot.

Dott called for World Snooker and the BBC to look at the final's schedule. A year on, yesterday's final was headed for midnight once the original start times were put back by half an hour.

The 3pm start meant they were called off to restart at 8pm with two "extra" frames left to play.

As the hours wore on and the scores crawled closer to a conclusion - with one re-racked frame taking 55 minutes to complete - both players looked increasingly tired, with Higgins particularly pinkeyed.

The Scot must have wished for a wee something to fortify him, while for all Selby's smiles and asides, the good humour became harder to maintain as the not- so- small hours approached.

His six frames on the spin started modestly enough, but when Selby fired in a defiant 109 to reduce the gap to 12-6, Higgins knew he was back in a match - and he could find no proper response.

Instead the former champion could be seen massaging his temple, or simply with his head in his hands at one point, as the qualifier with nothing to lose let loose in gunslinger fashion.

Indeed, it was Selby, then on a roll, who suffered most from the late start that led to those two frames being postponed until the evening, with Higgins still to take a frame since his Sunday night spectacular.

The Monday blues bit deep. The best break Higgins could come up with was the 36 that threatened to nick the 22nd frame, and interrupt Selby's dash, until he missed the pottable blue that mattered.

The night became a war of attrition, with Selby - at one stage trailing only 14-13 - giving as good as he got until, at 16-13 ahead, Higgins made the crucial 129 clearance that hauled him a frame from victory.

His 78 in the next clinched it. Worth waiting for, he smiled. "I've joined some good players who have won it twice, it's a special moment," said Higgins.