Snooker UK Championship final: Matthew Stevens broke his UK championship hoodoo with a nervy 10-8 victory over world number two Stephen Hendry in the best of 19 frame final at York.

The Welshman had lost finals in 1998 and 1999 but yesterday stayed cool to claim the elusive title despite some anxious moments.

Both players had opportunities to forge a lead during the match but neither could capitalise, Hendry and Stevens succumbing to lapses in concentration at crucial moments.

Eventually though it was Stevens who held his nerve long enough, picking up on a Hendry error midway through frame 15, with Stevens ahead 8-7.

Hendry missed a red to leave The Welshman that and a colours finish to stretch to a two-frame advantage.

Hendry though was not done and took the next frame with a 120 break, just misjudging his table position when he had a chance at a 147.

That was the cue for a Hendry fightback. With poise rediscovered, the Scot sat out the opening of the next as Stevens opened up a 49-point lead. When the Welshman missed a shot, Hendry swooped to rack up 54. But then with the colours to clear he missed a yellow.

And that was all the invitation Stevens needed as he cleared to the pink to claim his first ranking tournament win.

In the opening session Hendry stormed into a 4-0 lead. Indeed, Stevens did not pot a ball for the opening 26 minutes as the Scot produced breaks of 68 and 100.

But by the end of the session world number nine Stevens had wiped out the deficit for a 5-4 advantage in his pursuit of the £84,500 first prize.

Hendry was in blistering form in the early stages. A second-frame century was his seventh of the tournament and the 623rd of his career. He led 3-0 with a run of 48 and then came back from 46-0 down to snatch the fourth, helped by a break of 65.

In frame five Hendry led 40 points to five but missed a relatively routine red to give Stevens his umpteenth chance to put a frame on the board.

This time, Stevens finally accepted his opportunity. A break of 66 began the comeback as it became Hendry's turn to accept the role of spectator. For the remaining four frames of the afternoon Hendry scored just 13 points as Stevens dominated with runs of 50, 137, 99 and 76.

Stevens then lost the first three frames after the interval to trail 7-5 but recovered in the closing frames to the take the tournament title 10-8.