Chinese youngster Fan Zhengyi claimed his first ranking title with a stunning 10-9 victory over Ronnie O’Sullivan in the final of the BetVictor European Masters.
The 21-year-old world number 80 held his nerve to edge out the six-time world champion with a confident break of 92 in a final-frame decider in Milton Keynes.
O’Sullivan had fought back from two frames behind to level three times, and then pulled back from 9-8 down to take the match to the wire, but never had control.
Fan, who knocked in back-to-back centuries earlier in the match, duly closed out a memorable win and O’Sullivan was generous in his assessment of his opponent’s performance.
“He’s a fantastic player, brilliant,” said O’Sullivan on Eurosport. “He was the better player all day. I tried to hang on and make a game of it – which I did in the end – but he deserved his victory.
“It’s great for snooker and it was a pleasure to watch and a pleasure to play a future world champion.”
O’Sullivan was not at his best and twice complained about movement in the auditorium, first by a spectator and later by a photographer.
The 46-year-old needed to dig deep to keep himself in the match.
The first four frames were scrappy and shared 2-2 but Fan then struck out to claim a 4-2 lead after breaks of 63 and 78.
O’Sullivan pulled back to level at 4-4, taking the last frame of the first session with a break of 83, but twin centuries from Fan (135 and 100) early in the evening restored his two-frame advantage.
Again O’Sullivan clawed his way back to make it 6-6 as both players missed chances but Fan then took the next two. O’Sullivan kept the match alive with a sparkling 107 and then nicked a tight 16th frame, before the next two were shared to set up the decider.
