Ronnie O'Sullivan beats Joe Perry in entertaining Masters final
By Mark Crellin
Last Updated: 22/01/17 11:20pm
Ronnie O'Sullivan has won the Masters for a record seventh time after beating Joe Perry 10-7 in Sunday's final at Alexandra Palace.
O'Sullivan trailed 4-1 at one point but reeled off seven frames in a row to take charge and then withstood a Perry fightback to successfully defend his title.
And he pulled one clear of Stephen Hendry in terms of career Masters titles, the duo having previously been level on six.
Perry was quicker out of the blocks on Sunday afternoon, fresh from his thrilling Saturday night semi-final victory over Barry Hawkins.
Having raced into a 2-0 lead with breaks of 72 and 53, he shrugged off the loss of the third frame, further runs of 74 and 115 putting him 4-1 up.
But O'Sullivan won two scrappier frames and then ensured he was level at the interval with a run of 55.
He then took the first after the resumption to take the lead for the first time, before knocking in runs of 68 and 56 to make it 6-4.
Having added the 11th, a run of 85 took O'Sullivan within two frames of glory, only for Perry to finally stop the rot with a fine break of 117.
He followed up with a 92 to take the next but O'Sullivan was soon among the balls in frame 15 and made it 9-6 with a brilliant 112.
Perry was undaunted and took the next with a pair of solid contributions, but he missed a tricky red in a tense 17th frame and that proved decisive, O'Sullivan holding his nerve to clinch the latest victory of his superb career.
O'Sullivan told the BBC: "Joe played a brilliant tournament, a really good match and he should've beaten me. I got lucky, I stole it.
"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."
With regards to 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."
Perry said: "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.
"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 that I thought, 'I'm going for it'."
