Higgins will have surprised even himself by his form shown in Germany

John Higgins continued to impress on his comeback to snooker as he reached the final of the European Tour Championship event in Hamm, Germany.

The three-time world champion, back at the baize after a six-month ban, will play Shaun Murphy later on Sunday.

The Scot, 35 came through five matches in the three-day tournament before beating World championship runner-up Graeme Dott 4-1 in the semi-finals.

Higgins was suspended for not reporting an illegal match-fixing approach.

It is has been an astonishing set of performances from Higgins who is competing at his first tournament since losing to Steve Davis in the second round of the World Championship in Sheffield in April.

606: DEBATE Once this event has finished Higgins is over the first hurdle and can look even further ahead RKW - White Eagle

In September, Higgins was cleared of match-fixing allegations made against him by the News of the World, but admitted bringing the game into disrepute by not reporting an approach to throw games.

As a result, he was fined £75,000 and banned for six months, backdated to May 2010 when he was originally suspended.

The 2005 world champion Murphy has also looked in top form in Germany, racking up wins over the likes of Marcus Campbell, Paul Davison and world number 12 Mark Allen to reach the final.

All matches in Hamm are the best-of-seven frames.

Higgins, whose world ranking has slipped to number four, is expected to return to domestic action at the UK Championship, which begins on 4 December in Telford.

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