STEVE DAVIS lifted the roof at Wembley Conference Centre last night as he produced a vintage performance to end 25 months in the snooker wilderness. Davis transformed an 8-4 deficit into a 10-8 victory over Ronnie O'Sullivan to lift the British Masters trophy for the third time.

By bringing the curtain down on the most frustrating spell of his career, Davis earned a bumper £135,000 - easily the biggest cheque he has pocketed since turning professional in 1979.

O'Sullivan made an explosive start. He powered home a 116 clearance to blue in the opening before sprinting 2-0 ahead.

In the third O'Sullivan committed his first error of the contest.

He missed a relatively simple red and Davis, without a single point to his credit in the opening two frames, eventually recovered to trail only 2-1 with a run of 46.

O'Sullivan moved 3-1 ahead but, by the end of the afternoon, Davis had pegged him back to 4-4.

However, when play resumed, Davis went behind again as O'Sullivan regained the advantage at 5-4 with a 96 break.

That opened the floodgates as O'Sullivan sped through the next three frames in less than 40 minutes.

O'Sullivan's 121 break in the 12th frame briefly put him in line for the high break prize, but he was denied as Davis turned the tide.

With O'Sullivan suddenly careless and prone to mistakes, Davis rallied to 6-8 before claiming frame 15 in style with a 130 clearance as lucrative as it was positionally flawless.

O'Sullivan led 48-8 in the 16th but Davis edged back into contention and after laying a tough snooker with only two reds remaining coolly cleared up to snatch it for 8-8.

There was a similar scenario in frame 17. Davis trailed 46-18 but when O'Sullivan jawed a routine red, the veteran campaigner pounced with a 56 break.

It proved to much for O'Sullivan and Davis sailed through the 18th 68-1 to complete the most incredible fightback.