Ronnie O’Sullivan has lifted his first ranking event title in 29 months after defeating a resurgent Stephen Maguire 9-7 in the German Masters final at Tempodrom Berlin.

Continuing in the vain of some of his earlier round matches it was O’Sullivan that was trailing 6-3 to the Scot only for him to win six of the next seven frames and see him lift the trophy and the 50,000 top prize.

The win also protects O’Sullivan’s position in the elite sixteen meaning he will not now have to qualify for this years World Championships at the Crucible, unless he has an awful Welsh Open tournament.

The Chigwell, Essex based potter said after the final, ”Stephen outplayed me but I stuck in there and nicked frames, then managed to stay with him. To be only 5-3 down after the first session was massive, then to win three frames to get back to 6-6 felt like a miracle.”

A less than over-the-moon Maguire commented, ”Losing the three frames to go from 6-3 to 6-6, I felt like I threw it away. He shouldn’t have been involved in the match, I should have finished it. When I was 6-5 up he missed the pink, and I should have cleared up, but missed the yellow. That’s when I started to think that this game will bite you if you don’t punish your opponent. It was exactly the same as the Welsh final last year and I was thinking about that. I let Ronnie off the hook.”

Semi Final Results:

• Stephen Lee 4-6 Ronnie O’Sullivan
• Shaun Murphy 0-6 Stephen Maguire

Final Result:

• Ronnie O’Sullivan 9-7 Stephen Maguire

The next bout of professional snooker is this week from the Championship League.

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