Peter Ebdon clinched the China Open title in Beijing with a hard-fought 10-8 victory over John Higgins.
The 38-year-old Englishman dominated without ever being able to stretch his lead to more than two frames.
He eventually saw out the match to claim his first ranking-event triumph in more than two years.
Higgins levelled the match at 8-8 by downing pink and black, but Ebdon won a cagey 17th frame and a break of 71 in the next sealed the contest.
After the first four frames were shared, Ebdon established daylight for the first time by pouncing on a lapse in concentration from the Scot in the sixth to go 4-2 up.
Higgins trailed by a single frame at 5-4 at the interval, courtesy of a 140 break in the ninth which ensured there was all to play for in the evening session.
Ebdon, ninth in the world, again gave himself a two-frame cushion immediately after the restart, but crucially missed a red to allow the 1998 and 2007 world champion to halve the deficit once again at 6-5.
Higgins, a thrilling 6-4 semi-final victor over Ryan Day on Saturday, then also won the 12th to get back to level pegging for the first time since the early stages.
From 7-7, Ebdon then secured the 15th frame in a tense finish to get his nose in front once more - Higgins letting in his rival with a missed brown, and the Kettering-born player making no mistake.
Though the Scot restored parity in a nail-biting end to the 16th frame, Ebdon was the stronger player during the conclusion.
Sunday's final result (best of 19 frames):
John Higgins (Sco) 8-10 Peter Ebdon (Eng)
87-4 (60) 1-84 (84) 15-109 (108) 78-15 5-68 57-68 64-10 56-72 (56 Higgins, 54 Ebdon) 140-0 (140) 16-114 (52,57) 105-13 (62) 68-46 25-55 75-32 (51) 43-57 63-53 (Ebdon 52) 3-64 8-96 (71)
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