Snooker:Shaun Murphy ended 22 barren months since his shock 2005 World Championship triumph by capturing the Malta Cup title at the Portomaso Hilton Conference Centre last night.
The 24 year-old Rotherham-based potter eased to a comfortable 9-4 victory over Welshman Ryan Day, who endured a baptism of fire on his debut in a world ranking tournament.
Since defying odds of 125-1 to claim Crucible glory, Murphy has been unable to shake his one hit wonder tag but, all week on the Mediterranean island, has been scoring heavily and performing with renewed confidence.
And that self-belief was apparent as he took advantage of several key unforced errors from Day on the way to collecting the £30,000 first prize and climbing to fifth on the provisional world-ranking list.
The second frame typified Day's early problems as he missed a straightforward green and Murphy cleared up to steal it on the black.
Day also squandered gilt-edged chances in the following two frames as Murphy went into the mid-session interval having quickly established a 4-0 advantage.
After a nail-biting 18 shot tactical tussle to end the fifth, Murphy misjudged his safety on the pink and Day had the simplest of tasks to get off the mark by potting it to a middle pocket.
But more mistakes followed from Day, the world number 17 from Pontycymmer, near Bridgend.
On a run of 45 in the closing frame of the afternoon Day surrendered ideal position, jawed a tricky red and Murphy tightened his grip with a 51 clearance glued together by a delicate yellow down the side cushion to a baulk pocket, using the rest.
Leading 6-1 going into the final session, Murphy was already two-thirds of the way to his target and on the restart there was never any serious hint that Day could mount a sustained comeback.
Helped by breaks of 66 and 102, Day shared the opening four frames of the evening but it was impossible to dispel the thought that his fluency had arrived too late other than to restore a degree of respectability to the scoreline.
He also won the 12th with a run of 83 but Day's revival gather no further momentum.
The 13th and clinching frame was decided on the last red. Murphy potted it with a swerve out of a partially snooker and Day could not lay the snookers he required in order to keep the contest alive.
Day was consoled with a cheque for £15,000 — the biggest payday of his eight-year professional career.