Snooker results: Ronnie O'Sullivan claims eighth Masters crown with 10-7 final victory over Ali Carter

O'Sullivan spent most of the day trying to keep tabs on Carter who made an impressive bid to land a maiden Triple Crown title, but when the winning line came into sight it was snooker's greatest ever who scripted another memorable chapter in this quite remarkable career.

Carter was in the ascendancy for much of the match, leading 5-3 after a polished opening session, 6-3 when claiming the opening frame of the evening, and then 7-6 having appeared to have resisted the inevitable O'Sullivan hurricane by winning the 13th frame.

He hadn't, and O'Sullivan blew him away with a four-frame burst that by the end had left Carter looking a shadow of the player who made nine centuries in a week in which for the most part he has been the best player in the tournament.

“I don’t know how I’ve won this tournament, to be honest with you,” O’Sullivan, who at 48 is also the oldest ever Masters champion, told BBC Sport.

“I’ve just dug deep. I’ve tried to play with a bit of freedom and then tonight I just thought try to keep Ali honest and if he’s going to win it he’s going to have to scrape me off the table.

“I just wanted to see if he had it at the end.”

The course of the match began to turn in frame 15, Carter, having just watched O'Sullivan draw level again, missing a thin pink to middle that would have put him firmly on track to regain the lead.

As it was, O'Sullivan got his nose in front for the first time since the opening frame and never looked back. Suddenly, the previously unflappable Carter began to wobble and O'Sullivan could smell blood.

A ruthless break of 89 made it three frames on the spin as O'Sullivan moved 9-7 ahead, and though he had his own wobble as victory neared, Carter's race was run, a poor miss handing O'Sullivan victory on a plate.

It was much different to the early throws of the afternoon session, the pair trading three centuries in a breathless opening, and it was actually O'Sullivan who finished the session the weaker.

O'Sullivan, winner of his eighth UK Championship only in December, refused to back down from his ultra-aggressive approach and suffered the consequences as his long game creaked under pressure, Carter deserving of his 5-3 lead and arguably unlucky to not get more from his afternoon's work.

What followed in the evening was remarkably different. While Carter's heavy scoring and nerveless play deserted him, O'Sullivan was all business, mixing hard safety play with his surgical hand in among the balls.

In the end, it was too much for Carter, just as it had been for Ding Junhui in York last month and countless others before. The master O'Sullivan, champion at the Masters once again.

Asked about his chances of winning an eighth World Championship title at the Crucible, O’Sullivan said: “I always have a good idea round about February, March whether my game’s in good enough shape to win the Worlds.

“At the moment I’d probably say it’s not good enough to feel confident of winning. I can still win it, but I’d like to go there with a bit of confidence with my game.

“Longer sessions you have to learn to cruise, just win most of your games in second gear, but at the moment I feel like I’m having to squeeze everything out just to get a result.”

Carter said: “Obviously I’m gutted I lost, it’s all about winning at the end of the day, but before I rocked up here last week I’d have taken the final so there’s a lot of good things to come for me.

“I’m heading in the right direction.

“Ronnie played very well there in the end. I tried my best and it just wasn’t good enough today.”