John Higgins tonight won the third World Championship title of his career as he completed a crushing Crucible victory over Shaun Murphy.

The brilliant Scot drubbed Murphy 18-9 to land the trophy and prize-money of £250,000 (€279,834), sealing his victory in the final with a classy break of 73 before celebrating with wife Denise and their three young children.

Higgins had relied on his survival instincts to reach the final, describing his 13-12 victory over Mark Selby in the last eight as the best of his career after winning the final two frames.

But against Murphy he had arguably the most comfortable match of his two weeks in Sheffield, and after winning seven of eight frames in yesterday’s second session he merely had to consolidate his hefty lead.

As well as his scare against Selby, 33-year-old Higgins had also battled back from 12-10 down to beat Jamie Cope 13-12 in the second round.

However the final proved more straight forward for Higgins against Murphy, whose error-strewn performance was a disappointment and meant the anticipated close finish did not materialise.