John Higgins' brilliant break-buildiing overpowers Stuart Bingham to lift China Championship

The evergreen Scot, 41, compiled brilliant breaks of 134, 100 and 101 on the green baize to secure the inaugural invitation tournament, and a cheque for £200,000 in a match that contained five centuries, and nine breaks over 50.

It was world number six Higgins' biggest winners' cheque since the last of his world titles five years ago when he earned £250,000 for beating Judd Trump in the final.

Higgins won the first three frames with modest contributions before runs of 102, 112 and 52 saw Bingham restore parity at 3-3, but the Scotsman - playing with the same focus that brought him world titles in 1998, 2007, 2009 and 2011 - restored his advantage at 54 heading for the mid-session interval bolstered by a 58 in the eighth frame with Bingham closing the session with his own 58.

Bingham restored parity upon the restart at 5-5 with a couple of 50s showing his obvious prowess among the balls.

The world number two then moved ahead in the match for the first time with a run of 98 before a 56 from the Wishaw player brought the match level at 6-6 heading for the final mid-session interval.

A 65 from Higgins was good enough for a 7-6 lead only for Bingham to respond with a classy 84. But the best was yet to come from a quality encounter as the Scot's brilliant century finish helped him soar over the winning line.

He cut a thrilled figure to secure his first title of the season as 2015 world champion Bingham could only sit in his chair and admire the ongoing quality of the Scotsman's break-building 24 years after he turned professional.

From next season, the China Championship becomes an official ranking event.

John Higgins 10 - 7 Stuart Bingham

77-37, 74-17, 72-1, 1-127 (102), 18-112 (112), 49-75 (52), 69-0, 70-58 (65, 58), 14-100 (50), 28-55, 4-98 (98), 81-0 (56), 71-10 (65), 0-84 (84), 134-1 (134), 105-21 (100), 129-8 (101)