Luke Humphries withstood a stunning Jonny Clayton comeback to win the World Masters 6-5 in a final leg shootout.
The English world number one looked to be cruising to victory at 5-2 before his Welsh opponent won three straight sets to force a decider in Milton Keynes.
A dramatic finale went down to the last possible leg before Humphries, 29, eventually nailed double 20 to seal the £100,000 first prize.
“That double top – my head was shaking, my heart was pounding before it went in,” said Humphries.
“When it went to 5-5, I’m not a negative person but I thought the game might have gone for me there.”
It is a seventh major title in 15 months for Humphries, who went out in the last 16 in December when looking to retain his world title.
Clayton, who beat new world champion Luke Litter in the last eight, was also back to his best as he looked to regain the Masters title he won in 2021.
“I thought at the end I might win but it just wasn’t my day,” said the 50-year-old.
“Games like that, you need a winner, one has to lose and that’s a shame. But all credit to Luke, fantastic person, fantastic player, so fair play to him.”
Clayton set up a deciding set with a stunning Shanghai 120 finish and took the first leg of the decider to move one away from victory but could not finish off another 120 after Humphries levelled.
Humphries averaged 100.42 to Clayton’s 98.25 but only had a 30% checkout success and just edged the total amount of legs won by 14 to 13.
Humphries, who lost only four sets on route to the final, beat Danny Noppert 5-2 in the last four, while Clayton won by the same scoreline against Dimitri van den Bergh.
