England’s Judd Trump says he was lost for words after winning his maiden World Championship title after beating John Higgins 18-9 on Monday at the Crucible in Sheffield. The 29-year-old produced some of the best snooker of his career in front of a packed arena, with the ‘Juddernaut’ firing home seven centuries.

He became the first player to earn over a £1million in one season and at the age of 29, he becomes the first player under 30 to lift the trophy since Neil Robertson in 2010.

Higgins played his part along the way, with 11 centuries made, the most in any match in snooker history. Trump took control in the second session after winning eight frames in a row and that allowed him to move into a 12-5 lead.

Scotland’s Higgins was never able to recover and Trump’s performance has already been described as one of the best of all time. ‘The Wizard of Wishaw’ has now lost the last three Crucible finals and Trump admits it may take him a while for everything to sink in.

He told World Snooker: “It’s surreal at the moment, it’s going to take a while for that to sink in. John brought the best out of me as he always does. I was prepared for such a massive battle so the scoreline to win a World Championship final was incredible for me. It’s hard to put the feeling into words.

“Everything I went for seemed to be going in. My concentration has improved a lot this season. I have limited the number of balls I am missing and winning a lot more frames in one visit.

“My brother Jack has helped me a lot this season – since he has been travelling around with me I have won the Masters and the World Championship. Obviously my parents have been a massive influence through my whole career, taking me around the country when I was younger. So to win it for them when they were there in the arena was incredible. It’s a dream come true.”