O'Sullivan wins UK thriller

Ronnie O'Sullivan stands at the table with the trophy after winning the final of the 2014 UK Championship at the Barbican Centre, York, England, Sunday Dec. 7, 2014. A 10-9 victory over Judd Trump gave 39-year-old O'Sullivan, who came to the tournament with a broken ankle, his fifth UK title, to add to his five World Championship trophies and five Masters victories.  [Photo/Agencies]

LONDON - Ronnie O'Sullivan beat Judd Trump 10-9 in a thrilling final of the UK Championship to win his fifth title at York's Barbican Center on Sunday.

O'Sullivan, also a five-time world champion, led 5-1 and 9-4 in the best of 19 frames final. But Trump, the 2011 champion, came from behind to level the score at 9-9 with a series of rapid breaks.

But it was O'Sullivan who took his chance in the deciding frame to win the UK title and top prize of 150,000 pounds. He also collected an extra 44,000 pounds of prize money for his 147 at the quarterfinals.

O'Sullivan has now won 15 Triple Crown events - his five UK crowns matching his five World Championships and five Masters.

He also climbed to third in the world rankings, behind Ding Junhui and Neil Robertson.

O'Sullivan said: "I had the upper-hand for most of the match and I just lost a bit of concentration at 5-1. I went off the boil a bit and let him back to 5-3.

"From 9-5 up to 9-9, he's not missed a ball really - he's just knocked everything in and I didn't get a chance. At 9-8 I had a good chance but to be honest my mind was just gone, I felt really nervous after having such a big lead because you think if I lose it from there, the disappointment would've been unbelievable.

"The pressure was just mounting and mounting and it's difficult to put that out of your mind but in the last frame I managed to get a chance. The balls were nice and I had to just concentrate on hitting solid shots.

"Judd is a tough opponent. He's very dynamic and he's very explosive. He's got so much cue power, he can pot like you wouldn't believe, he's fearless and that's difficult because he's in your face the whole time."

Trump said, "You've got to get off to a good start against Ronnie. You can't be giving him five frame leads. I know when I get going in most matches I tend to reel off three or four frames so I know I've always got it in me. But once again I left it too late and fair play to Ronnie, he took them well in the last frame and overall he was a deserving winner."