Higgins proved that there was more than one top Scottish player
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John Higgins came to the Crucible needing to win the title and to hope that Stephen Hendry suffered a surprising first round exit in order to claim the number one spot in the world rankings.
Remarkably, Hendry was beaten in the opening round, 10-4 by his old adversary Jimmy White, who cast aside the demons of four defeats in their world finals to complete a memorable victory.
White bowed out 13-7 in the quarter-finals to Ronnie O'Sullivan after losing the opening session 7-1, but Higgins quietly made progress to the last four and from 4-4 with O'Sullivan, he won all eight frames of the second session to lead 12-4 before winning 17-9.
Doherty, the reigning champion, beat Mark Williams 17-13 in the other semi-final and from 10-6 adrift trailed Higgins only 13-11 after the third session.
Higgins, however, finished the stronger as he recorded an 18-12 victory.
During the 17 days of the championship, he had compiled 14 centuries, a record for any ranking event.
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MMIX
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