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Ebdon defeated Stephen Hendry to set up the tie against Pettman

Peter Ebdon clinched the China Open title in Beijing with a hard-fought 10-8 victory over John Higgins.

The 38-year-old Englishman dominated without ever being able to stretch his lead to more than two frames.

He eventually saw out the match to claim his first ranking-event triumph in more than two years.

Higgins levelled the match at 8-8 by downing pink and black, but Ebdon won a cagey 17th frame and a break of 71 in the next sealed the contest.

After the first four frames were shared, Ebdon established daylight for the first time by pouncing on a lapse in concentration from the Scot in the sixth to go 4-2 up.

	If I can keep the same character and spirit that I showed here, I'll prove difficult to beat at the Crucible

Higgins trailed by a single frame at 5-4 at the interval, courtesy of a 140 break in the ninth which ensured there was all to play for in the evening session.

Ebdon again gave himself a two-frame cushion immediately after the restart, but crucially missed a red to allow the 1998 and 2007 world champion to halve the deficit once again at 6-5.

Higgins, a thrilling 6-4 semi-final victor over Ryan Day on Saturday, then also won the 12th to get back to level pegging for the first time since the early stages.

From 7-7, Ebdon then secured the 15th frame in a tense finish to get his nose in front once more - Higgins letting in his rival with a missed brown, and the Kettering-born player making no mistake.

Though the Scot restored parity in a nail-biting end to the 16th frame, Ebdon was the stronger player during the conclusion.

Prior to this week, Ebdon had won just two matches in six ranking events this season, but his victory moves him five places up to 12th and reduces his fears of dropping out of the official top 16.

"I've turned my season around, and with two weeks of hard practice, and if I can keep the same character and spirit that I showed here, I'll prove difficult to beat at the Crucible," said the former world champion.

Sunday's final result (best of 19 frames):

John Higgins (Sco) 8-10 Peter Ebdon (Eng)
87-4 (60) 1-84 (84) 15-109 (108) 78-15 5-68 57-68 64-10 56-72 (56 Higgins, 54 Ebdon) 140-0 (140) 16-114 (52,57) 105-13 (62) 68-46 25-55 75-32 (51) 43-57 63-53 (Ebdon 52) 3-64 8-96 (71)

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