EPTC5 2011 Day 3 - Wizard's Magic

Final day of action at the 5th European Players Tour Championship event in Hamm, Germany. The man of the moment was John Higgins and no one would be expecting to say that a week ago.

At EPTC5 in Hamm, before the event started all the media focused on Higgins's return, during it they focused on his matches and now he has won it, convincingly beating Shaun Murphy 4-2 in the final.

Higgins narrowly beat Tom Ford 4-3 in the last 16, clearing on the colours. And in both his quarter final match with Anthony Hamilton and his semi final match with Graeme Dott, he came from 2-0 behind to win them both 4-2. In the final he faced EPTC2 winner Shaun Murphy who had beat Mark Allen 4-1 in the semi's.

Higgins opened the match up superbly with a break of 132 and then went 2-0 in front with a 66 break in the second. Murphy then levelled the match to 2-2 with breaks of 64 and 50. Higgins then made a spectacular break of 95 in the next frame and went 3-2 up. Murphy had a chance to level the match but missed a crucial black off the spot and gifted Higgins the frame and the match.

It's an amazing return for Higgins who himself would not imagine his first tournament win to happen so quickly after his ban was lifted. Hopefully he will continue the momentum going forward and will put up a good fight in the UK championships and at the Masters. This vital win moves Higgins back to 3rd in the world rankings.

Image courtesy of World Snooker

Scores courtesy of http://SnookerBacker.com

Last 16

Barry Pinches 4-1 Robert Milkins
Graeme Dott 4-0 Judd Trump
Tom Ford 3-4 John Higgins
Ricky Walden 3-4 Anthony Hamilton
Mark Allen 4-2 Stephen Lee
Jimmy Michie 0-4 Peter Lines
Marcus Campbell 2-4 Shaun Murphy
Paul Davison 4-3 Joe Perry

Quarter Finals

Barry Pinches 1-4 Graeme Dott
John Higgins 4-2 Anthony Hamilton
Mark Allen 4-0 Peter Lines
Shaun Murphy 4-1 Paul Davison

Semi Finals

Graeme Dott 1-4 John Higgins
Shaun Murphy 4-1 Mark Allen

Final:

John Higgins 4 - 2 Shaun Murphy