Ditton's Barry Hawkins was left devastated after surrendering a 5-1 lead to suffer final-frame heartbreak to Mark King in the Coral Northern Ireland Open showpiece.

Hawkins had been in the ascendancy at Belfast’s Titanic Exhibition Centre on Sunday but found himself on the end of a masterful King display who won 9-8 to lift the first ranking title in his 25-year career.

That was despite Hawkins forcing the deciding frame, an enthralling safety battle coming to a hilt from a respotted black – a final befitting of the Alex ‘Hurricane’ Higgins trophy prize on offer.

Hawkins said: “I’m disappointed, I was in control of the match and needed to be more ruthless. Mark was missing a few at the start and to go into the break at 5-3, someone like Ronnie (O’Sullivan) would have put the foot on the neck.

“I’m a bit devastated, but it’s another final I’ve got to, another learning curve and I’d have ripped your arm off for that. I can’t be too hard on myself and there are plenty of positives to take from that.”

It was a final that could have hardly been more dramatic in Belfast, Hawkins racing into a 5-1 lead after breaks of 85 and 113 showed he meant business.

But despite his adversity, a classy break of 110 revealed King was not to go down without a fight, taking six successive frames, breaks of 62, 100 and 50.

Yet Hawkins fought back before some quite mesmeric potting from both players saw the pattern of the game shift, with world No.35 King coming inches from glory when 8-7 up before heading into a decider.

But a scrapped final frame saw a brilliant red from King seal the win in a tear-shedding moment, the emotion of a man victorious in seven, hard-fought matches.

“This is a big moment for Mark and one incredibly deserved," added Hawkins.

“But I’ve played some great stuff over the week, I haven’t played that well for a while so there is a lot to take. I missed some easy ones, but apart from that I can look forward to the UK Championships."

The Northern Ireland Open was LIVE on Eurosport 1 and Quest, and featured daily studio analysis from Ronnie O’Sullivan, Jimmy White and Neal Foulds.