Ebdon claims China prize

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The 38-year-old Englishman was always in the ascendancy in the best-of-19-frame encounter, but was never able to stretch his lead to more than two frames.

He eventually saw out the match, thanks in the main to a break of 71 in frame 18, to claim his first ranking-event triumph in over two years.

The match started in cagey fashion with neither player wanting to surrender the early initiative - Ebdon's 96 in the third the afternoon highlight.

After the first four frames were shared, Ebdon established daylight for the first time by pouncing on a lapse in concentration from the Scot in the sixth to go 4-2 up. Higgins got back to 5-4 at the interval, courtesy of a 140 break in the ninth, to ensure there was all to play for in the evening session.

The world number nine again gave himself a two-frame cushion immediately after the restart, but crucially missed a red to allow the 1998 and 2007 world champion to halve the deficit once again at 6-5.

Higgins, who posted a thrilling 6-4 semi-final victory over Ryan Day on Saturday, then also won the 12th to get back to level pegging for the first time since the early stages.

The pattern of Ebdon edging ahead and being clawed back continued to take the score onto 7-7, with the Englishman then securing the 15th frame in a tense finish to get his nose in front once more - Higgins letting in his rival with a missed brown, and the Kettering-born player making no mistake.

Again, though, the Scot did not let his opponent get away, and restored parity in a nail-biting end to the 16th frame by downing pink and black.

There were to be no more comebacks, however, when Ebdon went 9-8 up and then produced a match-winning 71 in the final frame.