Jimmy Robertson secured reward for years of persistence by landing the first ranking title of his career at the European Masters on Sunday.
The 32-year-old from Bexhill fended off a fightback from Joe Perry to win 9-6 and collect the £75,000 top prize, comfortably his biggest snooker pay day.
Robertson had decent wins over Mark Allen and Mark King to reach the title match, and held his nerve as 44-year-old Perry fought back from 5-0 behind to trail only 7-6 at one stage.
Perry was on a charge after breaks of 106 and 110, but Robertson steadied himself with 54 to move 8-6 in front, and a superb 108 saw him over the winning line.
Robertson turned professional as a 16-year-old and has worked hard on his game but struggled to produce at the highest level, notably suffering first-round defeats in each of his four World Championship appearances.
He said of his triumph in Belgium: "It means everything. It's what I've dreamed of since I was a little boy playing the game. I'm so happy to have won my first title today.
"So far my season has been poor - in my career, I've been winning matches but not going deep in any tournaments so this has come out of the blue."
Speaking on Eurosport, Robertson added: "I always knew I had this in me but I hadn't produced it out there. It was nice to produce it at the end."
🏆 A moment to savour for the Robertson family! 🏆
— World Snooker (@WorldSnooker) October 7, 2018
Jimmy Robertson is the https://t.co/zhLqNSJmMN European Masters Champion.#EuropeanMasters pic.twitter.com/DIeoToIPC0
