Stephen Hendry ended his 15-month ranking title drought in dramatic fashion when last night he beat Scottish compatriot Graeme Dott 9-7 in an exciting final to lift the Malta Cup trophy at the Hilton Conference Centre in Portomaso.
Yesterday's final was a cracking match. After a balanced opening session, which Hendry led 4-3, the seven-times world champion, who won his last ranking title in the British Open in 2003, looked set for a comfortable win when he raced into a 7-4 lead. Dott's resilience again came to the fore, though, as he won the next three frames to level at 7-7.
It was everybody's game at that point but Hendry mustered all his match-winning nous to chalk up the next two frames and pocket the £30,000 cheque reserved for the winner.
"That was close," a relieved Hendry told the media yesterday. "When I hit that snooker poorly in the last frame I thought that it will go to the decider. I couldn't believe that Graeme missed that final blue, but you can't blame him for that. We were playing under intense pressure.
"When I saw that blue going in I breathed a sigh of relief... I knew that I had won the title. Still, Graeme should be lauded for his efforts. He showed great fighting spirit when coming back from 4-7 down to 7-7. I believe it won't be long before he wins his first ranking event."
Malta has been a lucky hunting ground for the 36-year-old. The Malta Cup success was also Hendry's fifth title on Maltese soil. The last time he won a ranking event here was back in 2001 when he beat Joe Perry 9-2 to lift the European Open title. "I've got a great record here in Malta," he said.
"The hospitality and the snooker facilities are first class and the reception of the people is fantastic. I'm sure that the other players share the same sentiment and we hope to be back here for many years to come."
The Malta Cup success has pushed Hendry to second in the world rankings behind world champion Ronnie O'Sullivan.
Asked whether he was eyeing a return to the no. 1 spot he replied: "Being the world no. 1 is not a priority for me. I've been in that position for almost nine years and now I have shifted my focus to winning more ranking titles. I've already 36 to my name and it depends on me whether I win more or not."
Hendry fired in three century breaks during yesterday's final to increase his overall tally in the tournament to eight, the highest being a 138 in the 5-1 quarter-final win over Tom Ford. But the highest break of the tournament was compiled by John Higgins, a 141 in his semi-final defeat to Dott.
Dott was visibly disappointed as he saw his chances of a maiden ranking title vanish. "I fought hard to win the match but it was not enough," he said. "I'm pleased with my performance today. Even when I was 7-4 down I felt that I wasn't playing badly, it was just that Stephen was playing some unbelievable snooker.
"It's always disappointing to finish on the losing end of a final but overall my performance this week was very good. I've beaten three former world champions in O'Sullivan, Davis and Higgins on my way to the final.
"I moved up to no. 6 in the world rankings and I feel that I'm moving in the right direction."
Hendry's huge experience in ranking tournament finals told in the early stages as he started brightly, pulling off breaks of 92 and 114. Dott slowly got back into the picture and took the next two frames with a 73 in the fourth frame. Hendry replied with his second century of the match, a 101, to move 3-2 up with Dott again restoring parity in the next with a 64. The seventh frame was a cagey affair and in the end it was Hendry who ended the opening session 4-3 ahead.
Both Dott and Hendry gave a fine exhibition of potting at the start of the second session. Dott made it four-all with a run of 93. But Hendry's reply was equally strong as he hit yet another century, a 102, before moving two frames ahead - 6-4.
At this stage, Hendry was producing some amazing snooker. Dott was soundly punished by the snooker maestro after failing to pot a red in the bottom right corner. He rolled another fine 81 to extend his advantage even further.
In the 12th frame Hendry committed a rare mistake when he failed to pot the blue in the centre pocket. Dott was quickly on a run of 53 but missed a red in the bottom corner. Luckily for him, his opponent failed to capitalise and the world no. 10 bridged the gap to 7-5.
The match seemed to suffer a dramatic turnaround as Dott fired an unstoppable 83 to move just one frame adrift of Hendry.
The 27-year-old was certainly now starting to believe he could complete a second astonishing recovery after coming back from three frames down to beat John Higgins 6-5.
The odds were now swaying in his favour when he levelled the match, winning the following frame despite missing a rather comfortable red. But to his relief, Hendry again failed to take advantage.
Hendry's game suddenly suffered a dip but the 36-year-old still managed to take frame no. 15 to move one frame away from victory.
Drama built towards a crescendo in the 16th frame. The least of mistakes could prove costly for either player. Dott seemed to gather the decisive break when Hendry got a poor defensive shot in his attempt to get out of a snooker. But Dott missed the final blue and Hendry made no mistake to win the title.
Yesterday's result: Hendry bt Dott 9-7 (92-0, 114-7, 39-70, 0-73, 102-7, 1-71, 75-40, 0-93, 109-0, 80-0, 81-0, 24-81, 0-84, 28-67, 61-9, 59-54).