Snooker results: Mark Allen beats Zhou Yuelong 9-8 in English Open final

Allen has been the comeback kid all week, producing particularly impressive comebacks against Ding Junhui and Elliot Slessor, and then another when again coming from behind to edge out Jak Jones 6-5 their semi-final on Saturday night.

It was a similar story in Sunday’s final, the Northern Irishman falling 8-7 behind to Zhou Yuelong, before again digging deep and holding his nerve admirably.

A relieved Allen said told World Snooker Tour: "It means a lot. To win any tournament these days is good. To do it the way I’ve done this week too, coming from behind a lot.

"I was absolutely shattered. I think adrenaline got me through that first session and tonight I was really tired. It is no excuse for some of the balls I missed, but I was feeling it.

"At 8-7 I felt something and realised it was my chance to find a bit of form. I’m going to sleep well tonight.

“I think the least you can ask for from any player is application. So many guys would have given up in some of the positions I was in this week.

"I think other people know now that I am never beat. That is worth a frame itself sometimes."

For much of the afternoon, a late finish didn't appear on the cards, Allen kicking off with a sublime run of 132 in frame one and waltzing into a 6-2 lead at the end of the first session.

However, the tide began to turn as Zhou reduced his arrears to 7-5, and it was game on when Allen lost the next frame from 60 points in front as the Chinese pulled off a brilliant counter-clearance of 72 to get within one.

And when he added further breaks of 60 and 53, Zhou was in front for the first time in the match.

Allen, though, wouldn't be denied, holding firm to take the match to a deciding frame, before a run of 61 was enough to drag him over the winning line, handing Zhou a fourth ranking final defeat, this one perhaps the cruelest of all.