Robertson wins in Glasgow

Australian Robertson, 27, completed a 9-4 victory to claim his fourth ranking title, making him the most successful player from outside the British Isles in the history of the game.

Ding - who shared that honour until Sunday - twice came from behind to level at 4-4 at the start of the evening session. The Chinese star, 22, had staged comebacks in three of his four matches on the way to the final, but he never recovered from losing an epic ninth frame, which lasted for almost an hour.

The match was only the second of the sport's 220 ranking finals to be contested by two non-Britons, the last being 24 years ago.

Neither player had lost the final of a ranking event before but it was Robertson who emerged with that record intact.

Fresh from his final-black victory over world champion John Higgins - hailed as one of the finest matches in the tournament's history - the Australian could not have dreamed of a better start as he potted everything in sight on his way to a 124 clearance.

Robertson took frame two, but then his shot selection began to go awry and Ding reeled off three straight frames, a 112 clearance putting him 3-2 ahead.

Ding was beginning to look every bit as good as Robertson had earlier but he missed a tricky red in the sixth and the Australian took full advantage. A 108 clearance was Robertson's 100th competitive ton and certainly one of his hardest earned, chock full of superb recovery pots.

The next two frames were shared to take the score to 4-4 before the Chinese then almost came from 50 points down to steal a gruelling 57-minute ninth frame - the longest of the tournament - after getting a snooker but Robertson held on.

That proved a key moment as the Australian picked up the next four frames as Ding's game went to pieces and claimed victory.