Summary Ronnie O'Sullivan brat Joe Perry 10-7 to win a record seventh Masters title on Sunday.
LONDON (AFP) - Snooker great Ronnie O Sullivan won a record seventh Masters title after beating Joe Perry 10-7 in an all-English final at London s Alexandra Palace on Sunday.
Victory saw O Sullivan surpass the record of six Masters titles he had shared previously with Stephen Hendry.
O Sullivan, a five-times world champion, may have been both the fans and the bookmakers favourite but the 41-year-old still had to come 4-1 down to defeat Perry.
"Joe played a brilliant tournament, a really good match and he should ve beaten me, I got lucky -- I stole it," O Sullivan told the BBC.
"Joe will come again and he is a tough competitor. I m just relieved to have got over the line. The fans have been unbelievable and I really enjoyed this week."
As for setting a new Masters record, O Sullivan added: "It is great to get some records, I still have the World Championship one to get (Hendry holds the modern era record of seven world titles).
"When I was younger I was just happy to win one, so to win seven, someone up there is looking after me," explained O Sullivan, nicknamed The Rocket because iof his attacking style round the table.
Perry, who came from 5-2 down to beat Barry Hawkins, last year s runner-up, 6-5 in the semi-finals was proud at proving he could still be a force in the game after appearing in his first final of a Triple Crown event -- the World Championship, the UK Championship and the Masters -- at the age of 42.
"I ve proved a lot, that there is still some life left in me and it has given me the belief to go on and win a big one," said Perry.
"I got Ronnie on a good day really. At 4-1 up I got a bit carried away and it was not until I was 8-4 down I thought, I m going for it ."
O Sullivan struggled in the early stages before, with Perry starting to miss important points, he ended the afternoon session all square a 4-4 following breaks of 42, 44 and 55.
O Sullivan started the evening s play the stronger, winning the session s first four frames to make it seven in a row in all, including a break of 85 in the 12th.
Perry staunched the flow of frames against him with an impressive break of 117 and then closed to within two thanks to a contribution of 92.
O Sullivan then moved to within a frame of victory courtesy of a clearance of 112 only to miss a routine black as Perry took the 16th frame.
Perry was 39-0 up in the next but O Sullivan recovered to seal victory.
