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Eurosport snooker analyst Dave Hendon hails John Higgins's victorious run to his third World Championship title as one of the best he's ever seen.

John Higgins was the best player throughout this year, and is a fitting champion. He had two very hard matches in the second round and quarter-finals that both went to deciding-frame finishes. He could easily have gone out but he raised his game both times to get through. He seemed to get stronger and stronger as the tournament went on.

He's a very tough safety player, and quite a few of the younger players - although they are excellent potters and break builders - don't always know what to do when you put them in trouble, and Higgins used that to great effect.

When Murphy made mistakes, Higgins punished him and made big breaks. It was an great all-round performance. In terms of his snooker over the whole two weeks, I think it was one of the best performances I've ever seen.

He was 22 when he won it the first time and a lot of people thought maybe he would have won two or three before now. For whatever reason, he didn't, but he's made up for lost time.

There was a lot of talk before the tournament about young players coming through, and they are, but the established players are still very hard to topple. It is a great achievement as the game continues to get more and more competitive.

As for Shaun Murphy, if he had faced a player who played the same game as him it would have been a lot closer and he might have won.

The problem he had was that he doesn't know as much about the tactical side of things as Higgins, and Higgins was aware of that. He did miss a few as well, and didn't play the snooker that got him to the final in the final itself. Ultimately it comes down to missing pots that you should get, and you can't really legislate for that - on another day he might have got them and we could have a different champion.

I'm sure the younger players like Mark Selby, who ran Higgins so close in the quarter-finals, will have their day. Mark played as well as he could have played, and if he had beaten Higgins then he probably would have gone on to win this year. It just shows you how well Higgins played in the end - he was the guy who ultimately played the best snooker.

With Ronnie O'Sullivan winning the title last year and now Higgins winning again, at the moment the older players are still having their way.

Both of those guys turned pro at 16, so we think of them as veterans of the game already, but they are both still in their early 30s. Higgins or O'Sullivan could both win it again over the coming years, they are not on the slide at all.

David Hendon commentates on snooker for Eurosport and is the assistant editor of Snooker Scene magazine. To read more from his blog or to subscribe to Snooker Scene just click on the links below the picture.

Dave Hendon / Eurosport