The Limburg player has won a major snooker tournament against four-time world champion John Higgins. He is the first player from continental Europe to win such a snooker title.
Playing in his second consecutive final, after losing to China's Zhao Xintong in the UK Championship, Luca Brecel was up against one of the biggest stars in snooker. John Higgins has four world championship titles to his name, and the 46-year-old Scot had just beaten Ronnie O'Sullivan, the most successful player in snooker history, to reach the final.
Far from being intimidated by what was at stake, the 26-year-old from Limburg was able to take a direct lead in this best-of-17-frame final. Leading 6-2 at the end of the first session, the man known on the circuit as "The Belgian Bullet" did not waver when his opponent won three games in the second session.
Luca Brecel won triumphantly with a score of 9-5, scoring 127 points in a row in his ninth winning frame, a "century" to use snooker jargon. This was undoubtedly the best performance of his young career and he now has a second title to his name after his win at the Chinese Championship in 2017.
Luca Brecel (15th) is the only player from continental Europe to have made it to the top of the world rankings in a sport dominated by Anglo-Saxons and Asians.