Ralf 'the Kaiser' Souquet, the German and European No.1 became the 2000 World Masters Champion as he beat Alex Lely of Holland in a error-strewn final at the Lakeside Shopping Centre this evening.

Souquet, 31, wins a cheque for £10,000 and gets to keep the trophy having won the title in 1994 and 1996, the year he became World Champion.

Given their wealth of experience at top level pool, both players were uncharacteristically nervous throughout the match. More so Alex Lely, though, who presented Souquet with three consecutive racks when he missed the 9-ball, normally a mere formality for players of this calibre.

With a packed arena watching, Lely went into a 2 - 0 lead which Souquet soon recovered. The next two racks were exchanged and then in the seventh, Souquet's error gave Lely the opportunity to take the rack with a formality 9-Ball. Lely missed.

Incredibly the same thing happened in the next rack; Souquet's mistake gave Alex the opportunity to clear and he missed the 9-ball. Ralf didn't and moved into a 5 - 3 lead. They say bad things come in threes and they certainly did for Dutch Alex as he missed another 9-ball to gift Souquet the 9th rack.

The Kaiser, who will be the lynchpin of the European Mosconi Cup team in December, made no mistake in the next rack to run out a 7 - 3 winner and take the title.

Commented Souquet after the game, " I know he missed three 9-Balls, but on the other hand I gave him the opportunity to miss three 9-Balls. I was really nervous out there, even when he was missing. I thought about every shot two or three times and still made the wrong decision which is something that doesn't happen to me. I felt completely confused and didn't know what to do.

" When I made the 9-Ball to go 6 - 3 up, I thought I have to win this match now, even though neither of us deserved to win. I was panicking after some of the shots in that final rack, even after I'd hit the ball. I'm happy that I've won though but it feels better to win when you've played well.

" I'm looking forward to the Mosconi Cup in December because it's time that we won. I'd like to see Thomas Engert and Alex Lely in the team and of course Steve Davis. It's about time he started kicking ass in the Mosconi!"

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