Mark Williams emerged victorious from one of snooker's tightest finals to capture the Benson and Hedges British Masters title in sensational fashion at the Wembley Conference Centre last night. The 22-year-old Welshman sank a re-spotted black to complete a 10-9 victory over Stephen Hendry and pocket a mammoth first prize of £145,000.

When Williams trailed 56-34 in a gripping deciding frame, his comeback from 9-6 down looked to have been in vain but he potted brown, blue, pink and black to tie the scores at 56-56.

Hendry was smiling at the start of what amounted to a sudden death shoot-out but eight shots later, and with a sell-out, 2,600 crowd on the edge of their seats, he was smiling no longer.

Hendry, attempting to win the Masters for the seventh time and end a frustrating 11-month barren spell stretching back to the Irish Masters last March, had the first chance to pot the black. But he misjudged his shot, the black catching the far jaw to leave Williams a straightforward opportunity to power it into a baulk pocket.

Ken Doherty just about doubled his tournament earnings for the season to £75,150 before departing at the semi-final stage, writes Dermot Gilleece. But the quality of his performance, when losing 65 to Hendry, caused him to look beyond cash.

"I wasn't very confident coming here, but I now feel a lot better about my game," said the world champion, who heads to the Scottish Open in Aberdeen later this week. "Stephen is at his most dangerous when his back's to the wall, but I honestly felt I had him at 54."

As it happened, Doherty broke off in the 11th frame. It was his sixth time to break during the match and, critically, it was also the only occasion that he happened to knock two reds clear of the pack.

After breaks of 131 and 122 earlier in the match, that was the only opening Hendry needed. Starting with a long red into the corner, he went on to make a break of 68, leaving Doherty needing a snooker with five reds remaining.