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12 Aug 2007 16:17:00

Dominic Dale completed a remarkable turnaround to beat Ryan Day 10-6 in the final of the 2007 World Snooker Roewe Shanghai Masters.

Dale came from 6-2 down to win an amazing eight consecutive frames at the Grand Stage to win his second ranking title and his first since the 1997 Grand Prix.

The eccentric Welshman, nicknamed the Spaceman, played as brightly as his vivid pink shirt and peroxide blonde hair as he raced to the 48,000 first prize.

In the first all-Welsh ranking final since Mark Williams beat Matthew Stevens at the 2000 World Championship, Day dominated the early proceedings and looked set for his maiden ranking title.

But the 27-year-old from Pontycymmer faded badly in the second session as nerves took hold.

Neath’s 35-year-old Dale sailed past his friend and practice partner to land the trophy in the season’s opening event.

Dale beat John Higgins 9-6 in that final ten years ago but had made little impact at the business end of major tournaments since - indeed this was his first ranking final in a decade.

He suffered a decline in form and dropped as low as No 40 in the rankings, and was rated a 100-1 rank outsider for this event.

But a new cue he started using just before the qualifiers in June has proved the catalyst to a dramamtic revival as the world No 31 has played some of the best snooker of his career this week.

He is now up to 16th in the latest rankings with a chance to gain a place among the official top 16 next season for the first time.

Day, who lost 9-4 to Shaun Murphy in his first ranking final at the Malta Cup in February, will be bitterly disappointed not to have converted a 6-2 lead into his first ranking title.

Up to tenth in the latest rankings, he must be content with the 22,500 runner-up cheque and will aim to build on his run to the final in the remainder of the season.

Trailing 6-3 after the first session, Dale made the best possible start this evening as he capitalised on a Day safety error to compile a superb 143 total clearance. That gave him a ?2000 high break bonus having surpassed the previous mark of 133 set by Ian McCulloch.

In the next Dale edged ahead with runs of 31 and 24. Day gained the snooker he needed on the last red, but after an excellent long pot he missed the blue and conceded.

Frame 12 was another scrappy one, Day making several unforced errors as Dale took it 68-8 to level the match for the first time since 2-2.

And Dale extended his run of consecutive frames to five with breaks of 41 and 38 to go 7-6 ahead at the mid-session interval.

After the break it was more of the same from Dale as he took frame 14 with a top run of 31 and added the next without reply with a best contribution of 40.

At 9-6 the pressure mounted for both players but a 33 from Dale put him in control. And when he gained a snooker on the penultimate red and then knocked it in, victory was secured.