Ronnie O'Sullivan edges ahead of John Higgins in Champion of Champions final
Ronnie O'Sullivan established a 5-4 lead over John Higgins in the best-of-19 frame Champion of Champions final at Coventry.
The five-times world champion made sure of a narrow advantage going into the evening session when he won a scrappy ninth frame.
Until then, both players had impressed at the Ricoh Arena with some impressive break-building, although neither could produce a century.
Higgins won the first frame with a break of 75 but O'Sullivan levelled with a 68. Higgins went 2-1 up but O'Sullivan's clearance of 88 saw him square things up again.
O'Sullivan produced a 90 to take the lead for the first time but Higgins responded with a 79, then a 65 which gave the Scotsman a 4-3 lead.
Both players uncharacteristically missed easy blacks in an eighth frame O'Sullivan edged with breaks of 61 and 27 - and the 40-year-old then gained the edge in a see-saw contest after Higgins had missed a brown.
