Judd Trump withstood a fightback from the resilient Jack Lisowski to capture the World Grand Prix title for the second time in three editions in Milton Keynes.
Trump won six of the eight frames in the first session of Sunday's final and then extended his lead to 7-2 before his opponent closed the gap courtesy of breaks of 99, 112, 87 and 95 at the Marshall Arena.
A break of 57 stopped the rot and thereafter Trump was able to regain some fluency, the world number one closing out a 10-7 victory to become only the sixth player in snooker history to win 20 ranking titles.
Judd Trump has beaten Jack Lisowski 10-7. pic.twitter.com/xJseL5lXip — World Snooker Tour (@WeAreWST) December 20, 2020
"It was an extremely good game in the end, Jack made it very hard for me and played some of the best snooker I've ever seen," Trump said in a video posted on World Snooker's Twitter account.
"Everything he looked at was going in which put me under a lot of pressure. In the end I had to make a couple of really good clearances.
"It was super tough in the end but it was an enjoyable game, we both played to a very high standard, I thought."
Lisowski, 29, has never won a ranking event and this was only his second final but Trump believes his beaten opponent narrowing a 7-2 deficit to 7-6 shows he has the qualities to improve on his current 15th position in the rankings.
"If he carries on playing to that sort of standard, I have no doubt he will be in the top four or five in no time," Trump said.
Your Matchroom World Grand Prix champion, @judd147t #SnookerOutOfThisWorld pic.twitter.com/InBCxDYGsp — World Snooker Tour (@WeAreWST) December 20, 2020
Trump suffered an agonising final-frame defeat to Neil Robertson in the UK Championship showpiece earlier this month, the Bristol potter admitting he "bottled it".
But he has been in electric form overall this season as he got his hands on his third ranking title.
"I was kind of happy to just win a couple of events and I've blown that out of the water," Trump, 31, added. "It's probably the best start I've ever made to a season and there's not really much else I can improve on.
"I've just got to keep trying to play at this level, keep the ambition, the hunger, the enjoyment and hopefully more success will come."
