Ronnie O'Sullivan confirmed his place as the master of the modern game by beating Ali Carter 18-8 to take his third World Championship Crown in Sheffield.
Needing only two frames to seal the best-of-35 frame encounter when play resumed, O'Sullivan wrapped the game up in minutes as a nervy Carter conceded frame 25 after falling two snookers behind and then the final frame as 'The Rocket' surged on.
Gallingly for Carter, World No.1 O'Sullivan failed to produce anything like the standard he showed in demolishing seven-time world champion Stephen Hendry in the semi-finals.
Carter had failed to make the most of several decent opportunities that came his way in the first three sessions against a player who had won the eight previous meetings between the pair. But O'Sullivan again demonstrated his 'B' game is too strong for most of his opponents.
It was perhaps a match too far for Carter, who had little left in his tank at the end of a gruelling 17 days. He was first amongst the balls in frame 17 with a run of 40 but then he missed a red into the middle and O'Sullivan cleared up with a 52. Carter failed to pot a ball in the next as breaks of 45 and 29 proved sufficient for O'Sullivan to move 13-5 ahead.
At last, Carter had something to smile about in the next with the aid of a 46 break. But he jawed a red in the final frame before the interval and O'Sullivan cashed in with a 71 to leave him needing snookers. The following frame went to Carter, who returned to the baize after the interval with a confidence-restoring unanswered break of 84.
Carter squandered a further chance to delay O'Sullivan's seemingly inevitable victory in the next frame, as the 28-year-old from Tiptree wasted a chance to clear up and went down 62-42, and 15-7 in the match.
O'Sullivan passed up the chance to build a decent break in the following frame when he missed a straightforward pink and Carter, perhaps no longer daunted by the occasion now that he was eight frames back, compiled an assured break of 71 to bring it back to 15-8.
Early in the next, Carter tried to double off the cushion to pot a black close to the bottom pocket but it wobbled in the jaws, enabling O'Sullivan to return to the table. The 'Rocket' couldn't add more than 23 points to his tally of one, missing a relatively standard red, but Carter, after edging ahead by one, himself missed an even simpler red. O'Sullivan made it 68-25, leaving Carter requiring two snookers. He managed to get one, as O'Sullivan accidentally potted a black, but conceded after a scrappy few attempts at safety, meaning the favourite needed to win just two frames in the evening session.