Mark Allen beats Stephen Lee 10-1 in World Open final
Northern Ireland's Mark Allen clinched his first ranking title with a dominant 10-1 victory over Stephen Lee at the World Open final in China.
The Antrim man, facing possible disciplinary action after criticisms of the tournament venue this week, raced into a 5-0 lead against the Englishman.
Allen hit early century breaks of 104 and 127 before finishing off the first session with a run of 123 to lead 8-1.
The world number 10 sealed victory by winning both frames after the restart.
Allen picked up a cheque for £75,000 for his first ranking tournament triumph.
He moved into a 5-0 lead helped by breaks 104, 50, 127 and 53 before Lee opened his account with a run of 67 in frame six.
Lee was further demoralised when Allen came back from requiring a snooker to win the eighth frame and the Northern Irishman hit his third century of the match in the final frame of the first session.
"I played pretty well today. I started out well and put Stephen under pressure," Allen told worldsnooker.com after the match.
"It's been a long time coming as I've been a pro for seven years now. Sometimes you question if you're ever going to win one."
UK Championship finalist Allen made headlines on Thursday when he criticised conditions as "horrendous" after his 5-4 win over Judd Trump.
Allen followed that with more Twitter comments on Friday when he complained about high temperatures in the tournament arena during his win over Mark King.
The Northern Irishman fought back from 5-2 down to beat Mark Selby 6-5 in the semi-finals on Saturday.
