John Higgins closed out a clinical 17-8 victory over Barry Hawkins to progress to his sixth World Championship final at The Crucible on Saturday.

The four-time World Champion needed just one frame in the final session to complete a ruthless win over the 2013 finalist and set up a show-down with defending champion Mark Selby on Sunday.

Higgins had been denied victory with a session to spare in the afternoon but made no mistake in sealing the deal when the two players re-emerged, putting the gloss on a fine win with a century break.

"The Semi-Final wasn't the best standard," admitted Higgins. "Barry will be bitterly disappointed with the way he played there."

"I'm delighted to get through. I can’t believe I’ve played like that and beat Barry 17-8. I was expecting him to come here and put in a great performance but, luckily for me, he never did.

"I’m just trying to stay focused and give it my all against the number one played in the world," he added.

Higgins, who last appeared in the sport's show-piece fixture six years ago, dominated the contest from start to finish, taking advantage of an out of sorts Hawkins.

The Scot had established a 5-3 lead following the opening session on Thursday, going on to stretch his cushion to 10-6 on Friday despite a high break of just 69.

He then won six of the eight frames in the third session on Saturday morning to move to the verge of victory when the pair returned later in the evening.

Having produced an earlier break of 90, Higgins saved his best until last as he compiled a vintage break of 120 to put 'The Hawk' out of his misery.

A dejected Hawkins conceded: "I struggled from the off, couldn’t get any momentum going and think I dragged John down in the end because I played so bad.

"I had so many opportunities and I didn’t capitalise – it’s a horrible place to be when it’s like that.

"I’ve not going to beat myself up. I’ve had a great season and got to another semi-final, so I can’t be too down and it’s all positive really."

Higgins had endured an eventful Friday night, having travelled to Southport to have a new tip put on his cue by specialist Les Dodd before returning to Sheffield for 4am.

He will look to recharge the batteries overnight ahead of his second World Final against Selby - the first of which resulted in an 18-13 triumph for Higgins a decade ago.