Stephen Maguire was in dreamland last night after capturing his first ever ranking title event, beating Jimmy White 9-3 in the final of the European Open played in a packed Hilton Hotel conference centre.

It was an extraordinary effort from the 22-year-old who had never managed to reach the last 16 of a ranking event. His jubilation was there for all to see when he was handed the winning trophy and the £48,000-cheque by Jimmy Chambers, Director of World Snooker.

"I'm actually on cloud nine at the moment," Maguire told The Sunday Times. "Had anyone told me that I was going to lift the trophy here in Malta, I would have thought they were joking. It has been an incredible week for me. I beat some of the best players and winning against Jimmy in the final will certainly remain one of the highlights in my career.

"My win against Stephen Lee in the semi-finals was a great injection of confidence as I approached the final in a relaxed mood. I felt immediately that this could be my day and luckily for me I was the one to lift the trophy."

Maguire deserved the title as he was in command for most of the final, practically making sure of winning his first title in the first session when he won seven of the eight frames contested... a rare feat in WSA ranking events finals.

In fact, the last time someone had surged into such an emphatic lead in a ranking final was in the 2001 UK Championship when Ronnie O'Sullivan was leading Ken Doherty 8-1 before going on to win the second major championship of the Tour 10-1.

White was looking to win his first ranking title in 12 years since his UK Championship triumph in 1992 but yesterday he was only a shadow of the player who had the better of Hendry and could offer little resistance to the strong play of Maguire.

"Obviously, I'm disappointed to lose this final but Stephen played a tremendous match and rarely put a foot wrong. He was outstanding in the first session and he just wouldn't let me on the table," said White.

Yesterday's final was the fifth meeting between White and Maguire. They last met in the 2001 Regal Scottish when Maguire defeated White 5-3 to level their direct record at 2-2.

Many would have thought that facing one of the superstars of the game in his maiden ranking event final would see the 22-year-old Scot struggling to control his nerves.

But in reality, there were little signs of tension in Maguire as the former world amateur champion produced a sublime performance.

Maguire was firing on all cylinders right from the opening frame when he made the most of White's inability to pot an easy red to clear the table with a break of 96.

The world no. 41 was catching the eye with his impressive clinical potting. White failed to pot the red on the centre pocket handing the initiative to Maguire who rolled in a break of 74 to double his advantage.

The Scot was giving White little chances to make an impact in the match and in the third frame he potted a tricky red in the top left pocket which set him on his way to yet another clearance which yielded him the highest break compiled in Malta - 137.

The world no. 19 kept fluffing up his chances to the delight of Maguire who made the fourth frame his after a poor defensive shot by White on the final red.

Maguire was going from strength to strength and he pocketed his second century of the game - a 103 - to widen the gap further.

The sixth frame was decided in extraordinary circumstances. With Maguire leading 58-6, White tried to hit one of the remaining six reds via the cushion even though he had a full view of most of them. He failed miserably as he lost the frame because of three misses on hitable balls.

White finally managed to get off the mark in the seventh frame which saw both players missing several balls.

With only the black remaining on the table, Maguire tried to pot it with a tricky shot but he failed to hit the target and conceded the frame to his opponent.

That was just a temporary reprieve for White as in the next one, he was forced to watch his opponent run away with the frame to take a commanding 7-1 lead.

Mountain to climb

White had a mountain to climb if he was to win his first title of the season.

The Englishman could ill-afford to lose the opening frame of the second session and he finally started to show glimpses of his immense talent when he pulled off a break of 78 to win his second frame of the match.

In the tenth frame, White again started on the offensive but he failed to pot a red in the bottom pocket and this miss proved costly as Maguire took an unassailable 77-1 lead to move one frame away from victory.

But White kept battling and he compiled his first century of the match, a 125, to reduce the arrears to 8-3.

However, his hopes of a miraculous comeback came to an end in the 12th frame as Maguire sealed his success with runs of 57 and 29.

European Open Final

Maguire bt White 9-3 (121-2, 79-44, 137-0, 81-23, 113-8, 58-6, 63-67, 62-50, 18-91, 77-1, 0-125, 86-6).