The outmatched Ditton potter was beaten 10-1 by Ronnie O’Sullivan at London’s Alexandra Palace, as “The Rocket” moved alongside Stephen Hendry as players to have lifted the Masters trophy on six occasions.
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“I put him on the back foot and although he made a great hundred to make it 5-3, I managed to pull out a shot and a half in the last frame to get the break going”.
A lucky ricochet on the pink saw O’Sullivan take the ninth frame, before wrapping up a 10-1 victory to claim the title.
“I’m never normally surprised when I win tournaments but I am surprised after I had eight months out”.
But O’Sullivan, 40, struggled with a back injury during the tournament and said his performance during his semi-final win over Stuart Bingham left him feeling “embarrassed”. I take a lot of confidence from it.
“I am over the moon, I knew I needed to raise my level”.
“I was so relieved at the end because I didn’t want to play like that and lose”, said Trump.
The fourth frame was a tighter affair and Hawkins missed a simple black to allow O’Sullivan to compile a lead and although Hawkins then did well to clear the reds from the cushions, a missed yellow allowed O’Sullivan to clear and snatch the frame. “It’s just about producing it when it matters and I was able to do it this week”.
“I was really bad and my concentration was very poor”, said Higgins.
“It is probably a little bit similar to the Crucible (the World Championships, which he had never got beyond the second round of prior to 2013) – I won a game there and it settled me down”.
“A missed red at 4-3 was the difference between me winning 6-4 or 6-3 and losing”.
“When I get back home in a couple of days time I’ll look back and realise I did well to make the final, especially against Judd [Trump] in the semi-final”.
It was another incredibly high-quality affair, with four centuries and five further 50-plus breaks, but Trump ultimately failed to reach his first Masters final, despite leading 4-3 at one stage.
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“I’ve just changed the way I play – I can’t be bothered playing this tippy-tappy safety rubbish anymore”, added Robertson.
