JOHN Higgins yesterday failed in his bid to become the Wizard of Wuxi.

The 38-year-old was beaten 10-7 by world No.1 Neil Robertson in the final of the first world ranking event of the season, the Wuxi Classic in China.

The Australian admitted his success over his boyhood hero was a "dream come true". It was also sweet revenge for Robertson, who lost 4-1 to four-times world champion Higgins in the final of the Bulgarian Open a couple of weeks ago.

The Melbourne left-hander has now won back-to-back majors in China, having captured the China Open in Beijing in April.

It was a gripping contest, refereed by Scot Michaela Tabb, between two of the best players in the game. Higgins, who defeated Welshman Matthew Stevens 6-2 in the semi-finals, got off to a dream start moving into a 5-2 lead with breaks of 78, 56, 70, 93 and 82. Robertson, however, fired back taking six frames on the spin, highlighted by a brilliant 113, to leave Higgins on the ropes at 8-5 down.

He clawed a frame back with a 66 but there was to be no denying Robertson and a 65 in the seventeenth frame was enough for him to lift the trophy.

Robertson revealed: "It's unbelievable to win two titles in a row in China because a couple of years ago I would have been happy just to win back-to-back matches here. This is easily one of the proudest moments of my career.

"I always knew I could win tournaments in the UK but there was a question mark over whether I could deal with playing in China. The playing conditions here this week have been the best I have played in. I'll now go to the Shanghai Masters in September full of confidence and there's no reason why I can't win three in a row in China.

"John was a hero of mine growing up so just to play him in a final was an honour, and to beat him is a dream come true. I have so much respect for him, I think whoever ends up with more world titles between him and Ronnie O'Sullivan will be considered the greatest player of all time.

"I'm very proud to have played that well against him in a final and it's a moment I will always remember."

Higgins said: "From 5-2 up, I was frozen out. Neil played some really good stuff and didn't give me many chances. My safety game was bad and I was leaving Neil with too many chances. You can't afford to do that against someone of his calibre but I've got to take the positives from this week. I feel as though I'm back to hitting the ball well."

Next port of call for Robertson and Higgins is next month's Australian Goldfields Open.