O'Brien was striving to keep at bay one of the worst feelings a snooker player can experiecnce - being virtually poweless to prevent a big lead being speedily eroded.

Hunter is this kind of inspirational player. In December's China Open, he won two consecutive 5-0s by a combined aggregate of 902-80.

He sat out 88 from O'Brien, creditably keeping his nerve in the face of his opponent's excellence but a break of 75 and back-to-back total clearances of 136 and 102 left him one up with two to play at 9-8.

The 136 was bad news for Jimmy White. It equalled his 136 early in the tournament and forced him to share the �20,000 highest break prize.

Excruciatingly tense

Hunter seemed to be closing in on the title when he led 44-0 in the next frame, thus completing a run of 372 unanswered points.

"I thought he'd win 10-8 the way he was playing," the 28-year-old Dubliner admitted.

But O'Brien, one of the most tenacious characters snooker has ever known, recovered to win it on the pink and level at 9-9.

The 46-minute decider was excruciatingly tense. Hunter twice missed long pots on the last red and yellow, either of which would have left O'Brien needing a snooker.

Star name

The Irishman missed two easier chances as the pressure became more than he could bear after 18 hours table time during the tournament.

Finally, it was Hunter who got home on the colours to secure the �175,000 first prize which he proposes to put towards a new house - with a swimming pool.

The title though is worth more than money. It establishes Hunter as one of snooker's star names.

For O'Brien, the �88,000 second prize was the best pay day of his career. But his failure to clinch his chance for glory in the deciding frame will not be easy to get over.

Such chances do not come along that often.