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Stephen Lee captured his first title in four years with a 9-4 victory over Shaun Murphy in the Welsh Open final at Newport.

Lee's trophy cabinet had been bare since he scooped the 2002 Scottish Open but the world number 10 got off to the best possible start against Murphy by storming into a 4-0 lead.

This was reduced to 4-3 but Murphy failed to find the sort of form which helped him triumph at The Crucible 10 months ago and Lee took advantage to claim the £35,000 top prize.

"I fancied my chances from the start and managed to pot a few nervy balls early on," Lee said.

"I felt I had gears to move through if Shaun made it close. I haven't felt like that for a long time.

"At 8-4, I knew Shaun was good enough to turn it around but all you can ask for in any frame is a chance and I knew I had to stay in control. I kept myself in the zone until the end."

Capitalising on Murphy's apparent edginess, Lee raced into a three-frame lead and made it 4-0 through a break of 120.

In the fifth, Lee snookered himself on the green when potting the yellow and a relieved Murphy finally broke his duck by clearing to the blue.

A botched black off its spot, when looking good in the sixth, only served to intensify Lee's frustration and there was a strong feeling the 31-year-old from Trowbridge might be losing his way when Murphy snatched it on the colours before runs of 47 and 43 made it 4-3.

Lee, 57-0 ahead in the eighth, jawed a long red but Murphy, looking to deliver a potentially telling blow, missed the final black using the rest to be denied a clearance.

His slip-up gave Lee the simplest of pots to carry a 5-3 lead into the final session.

Lee also won the first on the resumption to pull away to 6-3 before Murphy knocked in a long yellow on the way to winning the 10th.

But Murphy's excellent form of his 6-1 semi-final success over Barry Hawkins, which included two centuries, failed to materialise.

Lee needed several chances before making it 7-4 and he coolly cleared the table when Murphy left the last red close to a corner pocket in the next frame.

That made it 8-4 and a stylish 71 saw Lee collect the fourth ranking title of his career, having also won the 1998 Grand Prix, 2001 LG Cup and 2002 Scottish Open.

"I lost my concentration at 4-0 and I was lucky Shaun missed the black to make it 4-4," Lee said.

"It wasn't an easy black but I expected him to pot it. In the end I'm pleased that I brought out glimpses of my best form. That's encouraging for the rest of the season."

Murphy, 23, was appearing in only the second ranking tournament final of his career and was philosophical in defeat.

"It was my first time playing in Wales so it wasn't a bad week," he said.

"It's just a shame I couldn't finish the job off.

"I had some good results but you're judged by what you do on the day and I wasn't good enough in the final.

"When I was 5-3 down I still fancied the job because I didn't think it could go as badly again but it did."

Murphy collected £17,500 as runner-up and rises to fifth in the provisional rankings, while Lee rockets up eight places to ninth.