Scottish Open: Marco Fu defeats John Higgins in final

The Hong Kong player had it all to do in Glasgow after home favourite Higgins began in blistering fashion with three successive centuries of 126, 101 and 100 on his way to building a 4-1 lead.

Fu battled back though and took the next three to level proceedings ahead of the evening session.

The 38-year-old then picked up where he left off, sealing the third ranking title of his career which sees him jump from 14th in the world to eighth.

Fu, who collected a first prize of £70,000, told www.worldsnooker.com: "It feels unbelievable. To beat John in Glasgow is one of the biggest wins of my career. It was a great occasion and I managed to play some good match snooker.

"It's a dream come true. I was fearing the worst at 3-0 down because the way John was playing was very difficult to contain. I was guessing I was going to be 7-1 down after the first session, I would have even taken 6-2. I was over the moon at 4-4, those three frames I won from 4-1 down were the most important part of the match.

"My safety was helping me to get chances and I scored really well throughout the week. Before the UK Championship I worked on a few technical things with my coach Wayne Griffiths. My alignment was way off for potting balls so I had to correct that, as well as my cue action.

"I spent a lot of time practising but even going to York I wasn't that confident. I managed to find some form during the UK and I was able to bring that into this tournament.

"It has been frustrating in my career to have only won two ranking titles. The way I score could have given me more success but I have always missed out in the semis or final of big tournaments.

"So it's nice to win today and remind myself that I can do it under pressure. I'm really confident now going into the second half of the season. I'll take a holiday now over Christmas then from the new year I'll be getting ready for the Masters."

Higgins said: "The shot which turned it against me was at 4-2 when there were two reds left and I should have taken the green and tried to move a red off the side cushion. But I played the brown and ended up missing the double on the red.

"That's what was in my mind when I went back to my house after the first session. I played the wrong shot and it came back to haunt me.

"I still felt good at 4-4 because I couldn't have played much better. Marco ground his way back into the game and played some good safety. I still fancied playing well tonight but Marco shut me out.

"I've got no complaints because he played superb snooker. He put me in some positions I couldn't find my way out of. He has been the player of the week and a worthy winner.

"The fans were fantastic so I'm just gutted that I couldn't make it close for them and create a great atmosphere. It would have been good to win a 29th ranking title but hopefully there will be time in the future to do that.

"I've had a great couple of months (winning the China Championship and Champion of Champions) so it will be a good Christmas then I'll be ready for the Masters." 

Coral Scottish Open 2016: Daily Results

Monday December 12
Morning session (1000)
Josh Boileau 3-4 Yu De Lu (Match 2)
Jamie Curtis-Barrett 0-4 Daniel Wells (Match 3)
Kurt Maflin 4-1 Sam Craigie (Match 4)
Marco Fu 4-1 Sanderson Lam (Match 21)
Rhys Clark 4-3 Eden Sharav (Match 39)
Oliver Lines 4-2 Chen Zhe (Match 40)
James Wattana 1-4 Li Hang (Match 52)
Daniel Womersley 2-4 Alex Borg (Match 59)

Afternoon session (From 1300)
Mitchell Mann 4-2 Sam Baird (Match 6)
Ken Doherty 0-4 Matthew Stevens (Match 15)
Liam Highfield 4-1 Tom Ford (Match 22)
Michael Holt 4-3 David Grace (Match 27)
Jimmy Robertson 3-4 Igor Figueiredo (Match 34)
Luca Brecel 2-4 Duane Jones (Match 58)
Ricky Walden 4-1 Tian Pengfei (Match 60)
John Higgins 4-1 Alan McManus (Match 64)
Stuart Bingham 3-4 Mark Joyce (Match 1)
Robbie Williams 1-4 Sean O'Sullivan (Match 7)
Mark Williams 4-0 Rod Lawler (Match 28)
Fang Xiongman 4-2 Martin O'Donnell (Match 50)
Alfie Burden 0-4 Zhang Anda (Match 10)
Ben Woollaston 4-1 Ross Vallance (Match 38)
Anthony McGill 4-1 John J. Astley (Match 5)
Barry Hawkins 4-0 Hammad Miah (Match 16)

Evening session (From 1900)
Dechawat Poomjaeng 2-4 Sydney Wilson (Match 11)
Mike Dunn 4-2 Jason Weston (Match 13)
Judd Trump 4-0 Zhang Yong (Match 33)
Mark Allen 4-3 Christopher Keogan (Match 49)
Kurt Dunham 0-4 Mark King (Match 8)
Cao Yupeng 0-4 Michael White (Match 24)
Kyren Wilson 4-0 Jamie Jones (Match 37)
Itaro Santos 0-4 Scott Donaldson (Match 63)

Tuesday December 13
Morning session (1000)
Gary Wilson 4-1 Allan Taylor (Match 18)
Lee Walker 1-4 Joe Swail (Match 19)
Kritsanut Lertsattayathom 3-4 Stuart Carrington (Match 20)
Boonyarit Keattikun 0-4 Robin Hull (Match 23)
Wang Yuchen 1-4 Xiao Guodong (Match 31)
Yan Bingtao 1-4 Aditya Mehta (Match 36)
Ali Carter 4-2 Thepchaiya Un-Nooh (Match 44)
Jimmy White 4-0 David John (Match 56)

Afternoon session (From 1300)
Craig Steadman 3-4 Noppon Saengkham (Match 35)
Michael Georgiou 4-1 Peter Lines (Match 42)
Nigel Bond 0-4 Chris Wakelin (Match 43)
Michael Wild 3-4 Ian Preece (Match 45)
Jack Lisowski 1-4 Hossein Vafaei Ayouri (Match 47)
Joe Perry 4-3 Adam Duffy (Match 48)
Akani Songsermsawad 4-3 Andrew Higginson (Match 51)
Ronnie O'Sullivan 4-2 Matthew Selt (Match 53)
Fergal O'Brien 4-0 Brandon Sargeant (Match 25)
Rory McLeod 0-4 Mark Davis (Match 29)
Jak Jones v Graeme Dott (Match 30)
Shaun Murphy 4-2 Zhao Xintong (Match 32)
Fraser Patrick 3-4 Anthony Hamilton (Match 41)
Jamie Cope 1-4 Peter Ebdon (Match 62)
Ian Burns w/o v Martin Gould (Match 9)
Liang Wenbo 4-2 Darryl Hill (Match 12)

Evening session (From 1900)
Gareth Allen 4-3 Ross Muir (Match 14)
Neil Robertson 4-1 Thor Chuan Leong (Match 17)
Ryan Day 4-1 Elliot Slessor (Match 55)
Paul S Davison 0-4 Me Xi Wen (Match 61)
Zhou Yuelong 0-4 Stephen Maguire (Match 26)
Robert Milkins 4-0 David Gilbert (Match 46)
James Cahill v Adam Stefanow (Match 54)
Dominic Dale v Chris Totten (Match 57)

Wednesday December 14
Morning session (1000)
Daniel Wells 4-1 Kurt Maflin (Match 66)
Anthony McGill 1-4 Mitchell Mann (Match 67)
Ian Burns 4-0 Zhang Anda (Match 69)
Matthew Stevens 2-4 Barry Hawkins (Match 72)
Marco Fu 4-1 Liam Highfield (Match 75)
Rhys Clark 3-4 Oliver Lines (Match 84)
Akani Songsermsawad 1-4 Li Hang (Match 90)
Alex Borg 3-4 Ricky Walden (Match 94)

Afternoon session (From 1300)
Sean O'Sullivan 4-1 Mark King (Match 68)
Mike Dunn 4-3 Gareth Allen (Match 71)
Neil Robertson 4-2 Gary Wilson (Match 73)
Joe Swail v Stuart Carrington (Match 74)
Robin Hull 4-1 Michael White (Match 76)
Michael Holt 1-4 Mark Williams (Match 78)
Mark Davis 4-0 Graeme Dott (Match 79)
Judd Trump 4-0 Igor Figueiredo (Match 81)
Noppon Saengkham 4-2 Aditya Mehta (Match 82)
Kyren Wilson 4-0 Ben Woollaston (Match 83)
Anthony Hamilton 4-2 Michael Georgiou (Match 85)
Chris Wakelin 4-3 Ali Carter (Match 86)
Ian Preece 0-4 Robert Milkins (Match 87)
Hossein Vafaei Ayouri 0-4 Joe Perry (Match 88)
Mark Allen 4-0 Fang Xiongman (Match 89)

Evening session (From 1900)
Mark Joyce 3-4 Yu De Lu (Match 65)
Sydney Wilson 1-4 Liang Wenbo (Match 70)
Fergal O'Brien 2-4 Stephen Maguire (Match 77)
Xiao Guodong 4-1 Shaun Murphy (Match 80)
Ronnie O'Sullivan 4-1 Adam Stefanow (Match 91)
Ryan Day 0-4 Jimmy White (Match 92)
Dominic Dale 4-0 Duane Jones (Match 93)
Scott Donaldson 0-4 John Higgins (Match 96)

Thursday December 15
Afternoon session (from 1200)
Yu De Lu 4-3 Daniel Wells (Match 97)
Mitchell Mann 1-4 Sean O'Sullivan (Match 98)
Ian Burns 0-4 Liang Wenbo (Match 99)
Mike Dunn 1-4 Barry Hawkins (Match 100)
Judd Trump 4-0 Noppon Saengkham (Match 105)
Kyren Wilson 4-0 Oliver Lines (Match 106)
Anthony Hamilton 4-0 Chris Wakelin (Match 107)
Robert Milkins 4-1 Joe Perry (Match 108)
Marco Fu 4-0 Robin Hull (Match 102)
Stephen Maguire 3-4 Mark Williams (Match 103)
Mark Davis 4-1 Xiao Guodong (Match 104)
Mark Allen 4-3 Li Hang (Match 109)
Ronnie O'Sullivan 4-2 Jimmy White (Match 110)
Dominic Dale 4-3 Ricky Walden (Match 111)
Neil Robertson 4-2 Joe Swail (Match 101)
Mei Xi Wen 0-4 John Higgins (Match 112)

Evening session (from 1900)
Yu De Lu 4-3 Sean O'Sullivan (Match 113)
Liang Wenbo 4-3 Barry Hawkins (Match 113)
Judd Trump 4-2 Kyren Wilson (Match 117)
Anthony Hamilton 3-4 Robert Milkins (Match 118)
Neil Robertson 3-4 Marco Fu (Match 115)
Mark Williams 3-4 Mark Davis (Match 116)
Mark Allen 2-4 Ronnie O'Sullivan (Match 119)
Dominic Dale 0-4 John Higgins (Match 120)

Friday December 16
Afternoon session (from 1200)
Judd Trump 5-3 Robert Milkins (Match 123)
Ronnie O'Sullivan 2-5 John Higgins (Match 124)

Evening session (from 1900)
Yu De Lu 5-4 Liang Wenbo (Match 121)
Marco Fu 5-1 Mark Davis (Match 122)

Saturday December 17
Afternoon session (from 1300)
Judd Trump 5-6 John Higgins

Evening session (from 1900)
Yu De Lu 1-6 Marco Fu

Sunday December 18
Afternoon session (from 1300)
John Higgins 4-4 Marco Fu

Evening session (from 1900)
John Higgins 4-9 Marco Fu