Robertson, the world No 13, who became the first Aussie to win a ranking event when he captured the Grand Prix title in Aberdeen five months ago, recovered his composure  to complete a 9-8 victory.

The 25-year-old from Melbourne, who had defeated Stephen Hendry and Ronnie O'Sullivan in earlier rounds, made an early dash for glory as he won five of the first six frames in which his highest breaks were 98, 76 and 71.

Higginson won frame seven only for Robertson to go four clear again by taking the last of the afternoon with a break of 74.

But when the final was played to a finish, Higginson won six frames in a row helped by successive breaks of 54, 100, 97, 64 and 81 to turn the final on its head as Robertson scored only 10 points.

Robertson though found his second breath in the nick of time to win the last three frames and capture the first prize of £35,000.

"I came here this week with no real expectations as I was the underdog in most of my matches," said Higginson after he had beaten Scotland's Stephen Maguire 6-3 in the semi-finals.

"I needed to win one more match to take the title and if someone had told me this would happen a week ago, I would have sent them for a drugs test."

"But getting this far is still a dream come true and it was very surreal to be in the final," he said.

"This is a great season in my book and to come here and beat the players I have done is amazing," said Robertson.

John Dee

The Nation