Anthony Hamilton beats Ali Carter to win his first ever ranking tournament

Anthony Hamilton won the first world ranking title in 26 years as a professional by beating Ali Carter 9-6 in the final of the F66.com German Masters.

Hamilton played tremendous snooker in the closing stages at the Tempodrom in Berlin as he came from 5-2 down to win seven of the last eight frames. At the age of 45, the Nottingham cueman is the oldest winner of a ranking event since a 46-year-old Doug Mountjoy captured the 1989 Classic.

On his way to victory in Berlin, Hamilton beat the top two players in the world, Mark Selby and Stuart Bingham, as well as Mark Williams and Barry Hawkins, to reach the final before outplaying Carter when it mattered most.

Victory gives Hamilton the biggest pay day of his career, €80,000, and he leaps from 66th to 38th in the world rankings.

This was Hamilton’s third ranking final and first for 15 years, having lost at the 1999 British Open to Fergal O’Brien and at the 2002 China Open against Mark Williams, when he crumbled under pressure and squandered an 8-5 lead. This time, he showed admirable composure when the winning line came into view.

Carter missed out the chance to win a fifth world ranking title and to capture this crown for the second time having won it in 2013. The 37-year-old from Chelmsford had been bidding for a second ranking title of the season having landed the World Open in July. He lost a ranking final for the fourth time but still moves up from 14th to 11th in the world.

Carter built a 3-0 lead at the start and then led 5-3 after the first session, but Hamilton stormed back in the second session by winning the first four frames in a row with breaks of 49, 118, 73 and 74.

“It’s crazy to win a tournament when I’ve stopped thinking about how to do it,” said Hamilton, a four-time World Championship quarter-finalist. “I stopped wanting it so badly and that took the pressure off. It just feels strange to win another match and now I’m sitting here with a trophy. I’ve struggled for most of this week, but then found some form at the end from absolutely nowhere. I couldn’t pot a ball up until tonight, then played the best snooker of my life.