Alistair Carter won his first ranking title by winning seven consecutive frames to beat Joe Swail 9-5 in the Welsh Open final on Sunday night.

The qualified pilot, nicknamed the Captain, lifted the trophy and pocketed £35,000 in front of a crowd of 1,350 at the Newport Centre.

Carter, 29, struggled to settle in the early stages, perhaps hampered by the sense that he might never get a better chance to win his maiden title. But eventually he broke free from the self-imposed shackles and allowed his natural attacking game to take over.

From 5-2 down, he produced a sensational burst of high scoring, out-pointing his opponent 575-17 in a six-frame spell. Previously considered one of the best players in snooker history never to have won a ranking title, he has now removed that stigma.

Up to third in the latest world rankings, he has earned more points than any other player this term.

To lose all control of the match after such a promising start will be heart-breaking for Swail.

The 39-year-old admitted that he had been waiting for 18 years to reach his first final.

Another player with great natural ability, Swail was aiming to become the first player from Northern Ireland to win a ranking event since Dennis Taylor in 1985.

His consolation is a leap of eight places in the latest rankings and the knowledge that his career is back on track.

Trailing 5-3 after the opening session, Carter stamped his authority on the match by winning the first four frames on the resumption in less than an hour, knocking in breaks of 116, 109, 61 and 91.

Swail's only scoring chance was in the fourth of those, when he missed a black off its spot on 16.

After the interval he was kept in his chair again as Carter knocked in a 67 to go 8-5 up.

Swail finally got among the balls in frame 14 and made 45. A safety tussle followed, with three reds left, which ended when Carter, arguably the best long potter in the world, cracked in a red to a baulk corner to initiate a cool 39 clearance which secured the trophy.

In Newport, Anthony Hamilton reached his first ranking semi-final for three years before losing 6-5 to Carter. He improved his place by six positions to 31st. Neil Robertson lost to Swail in the other semi and the Australian is now no.10.

Quarter-finalist Stephen Maguire went one round further than Ronnie O'Sullivan to narrow the gap at the top of the list to 4,925 points.

Marco Fu also made the quarters and shot ahead of Ryan Day into fifth.

Meanwhile, Jimmy White won four qualifying matches to reach the venue but remains in 55th position.