Ronnie O'Sullivan says Judd Trump's best game is better than his own after becoming world champion

• Trump 16-9 Higgins: Match report
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Trump became the 11th player to complete snooker's Triple Crown by finally - and brilliantly - adding his first Crucible title to the UK Championship (2011) and Masters (January 2019) crowns he's also collected in a career that has promised so much.

At 29 years old, there were no shortage of fans and pundits who expected him to become a world champion sooner, especially having last reached the final back in 2011 when runner-up to John Higgins, but now the floodgates could well open for this incredible talent.

Trump fired a record-equalling seven centuries in a high-quality 16-9 victory over Higgins that featured 11 of them - a Crucible high for a single match - and he frequently mesmerised the watching millions with his potting.

Afterwards, five-time champion O'Sullivan hailed the Bristol star by claiming his 'best game' is better than anyone else's in the history of the sport, including his own.

Rocket, working as a pundit on Eurosport since his own shock exit at the hands of James Cahill in the very first round, said: "Like John says, he's done very well to win nine frames! Judd played brilliantly. He's a real special player, a special talent and he deserves to be world champion.

"It's now a matter of how many he can get. He's finally got that monkey off his back and now he can relax and enjoy his snooker.

"It's not easy to win this tournament - over 17 days it's a different ball game to any other and like Judd has said, he had to go back to the drawing board to work out what it was to get there.

"He's worked hard and he's got his brother with him who's a very calming influence. He's got the right people around him and he's focused on what he has to do. That's the difference - you need everything in place to become the ultimate player."

Ranking Trump's talents among the other greats, O'Sullivan added: "Stephen Hendry was an unbelievable player, John Higgins is an unbelievable player - he's in the same mould as those but he's taken the game to another level. It's a different type of snooker but I believe it's another level.

"Judd's best game is better than Higgins' best game, it's better than Hendry's best game and it's better than my best game.

"He's 29, he's had a taste of it, he's worked hard on his game and he's better than he ever has been. It'll take a generation of players to catch up and play the kind of game he plays."

Trump has 11 ranking titles and is a long way behind the leading mark of 36 which is jointly held by seven-time world champion Hendry and O'Sullivan but if anyone has the game to challenge those figures, it looks like it's him.

Here are just a few highlights from his stunning performance in the final...

Judd Trump 18-9 John Higgins

Session 1

• 66-1 (51), 72-45 (63), 0-139 (139), 105-0 (105), 8-70 (69), 0-74, 0-101 (101), 103-4 (103)

Session 2

• 1-125 (125), 66-0, 139-4 (135), 67-45, 118-0 (114), 65-30, 95-28 (71), 70-20 (58), 85-19 (70)

Session 3
0-113 (113), 35-60 (59), 101-0 (101), 72-0 (71), 126-0 (126), 16-92 (67), 11-79 (70), 104-0 (104)

Session 4

• 94-0 (94), 63-1 (62)

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