Snooker: Ebdon joins elite club with UK title triumph

Peter Ebdon last night joined the exclusive club of players to have won the UK Championship as well as the world title when he won 10-6 at York's Barbican Centre against Stephen Hendry - the man he also beat to become world champion in 2002.

Eight men have previously triumphed in the sport's two most prestigious ranking events and Ebdon added his name to the list 11 years after losing the UK final 10-3 to Hendry.

Yet Ebdon had made a slow start to the match and in the first four frames there was none of the superb break-building that had carried him into the final.

But he struck form after the mid-session interval, knocking in breaks of 66, 83 and 135 - his highest of the season - to move 4-3 ahead.

Hendry took the next frame to restore parity, but the seven-times former world champion then lost his accuracy on long pots and made a series of basic errors, which seemed to affect his confidence. All four frames before the interval went to Dubai-based Ebdon and there looked to be no way back for the Scot.

However, the world No 7 is well known for stumbling when in sight of the winning line and Hendry showed he was not done with when he pulled back to 8-6 thanks to a break of 116.

One of Hendry's famous comebacks looked a possibility, but Ebdon was clearly in no mood to relinquish his grip on the trophy, and after winning frame 15, he wrapped it up with a 70.