Ronnie O'Sullivan won his fourth major title of the season, and second in as many weeks, when coming from 4-0 down to beat Judd Trump 10-7 in the final of the World Grand Prix.
Things were looking bleak for last week's Masters champion when he watched Trump win the first four frames of the day, but O'Sullivan gave himself a lifeline by finishing the first session only 5-3 behind and he produced another irresistible comeback in the evening session.
Just as was the case in the final of the Masters a week ago, he received plenty of help from his opponent who fell apart as the match entered the latter stages, a barely believable miss on the final black in frame 14, one which would have drawn him level at 7-7, summing up Trump's night and handing O'Sullivan an 8-6 advantage he would not let slip.
“I enjoyed that, I really did,” O’Sullivan said on ITV. “I started the week feeling a bit rough but I bought myself an air fryer and started eating a bit better.
“I knew I would have to play well to do something against Judd. He blasted me off the table 4-0 and I thought it could be an early night, 10-1 or something, but I managed to nick a few and getting back to 5-3 gave me a bit of optimism.
“I came out just trying to enjoy the battle. You have to battle against Judd. He’s a warrior and he’s the favourite for the World Championship for sure.”
Trump seized the early initiative when Sunday's showdown between the sport's two biggest stars got under way, a break of 74 doing the damage in frame one before O’Sullivan spurned a chance to steal the following frame.
O’Sullivan again missed chances to get on the scoreboard in the third frame, going in-off from an attempted safety shot as Trump nicked another scrappy frame.
When Trump added a run 69 to lead 4-0, he held all the aces, but O'Sullivan finally burst into life and managed to win three of the next four with the aid of 60 and 63 breaks, keeping himself in the hunt.
Still, Trump won another scrappy frame to open the evening's proceedings and move further clear at 6-3.
But from there on the tables turned, and as O'Sullivan grew stronger, Trump began to waver as he grew visibly frustrated with testing conditions which his opponent managed to cope with much better.
Breaks of 58 and 74 reduced the deficit to 6-5 and when Trump played another poor safety on the final red having failed to dislodge it from the side cushion with his previous shot, O'Sullivan made no mistake from distance to draw level.
O'Sullivan's long potting has been a hallmark of his week's work in Leicester and he continued to dazzle from distance as he won the next two frames with two more fifty-plus contributions, though he only needed to pot the simplest of blacks to extend his lead to 8-6 after Trump fluffed his lines in dramatic fashion.
A missed brown this time proved Trump's downfall in frame 15, and though he rallied to peg O'Sullivan back to 9-7, there was no stopping the 48-year-old who sealed his fourth trophy of the season with a break of 52.
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