2014 Shanghai Masters - Crystal clear victory for Bingham

Stuart Bingham - the 2014 Shanghai Masters champion

Stuart Bingham obtained a unquestionable victory of 10-3 over Mark Allen, the recent Paul Hunter Classic champion, in his quest for grabbing the 2014 Shanghai Masters trophy and his second ranking title.

It was back in 2011 when Stuart Bingham was defeating Mark Williams in a cracking Australian Open final, in order to get his first ranking title, so it was about time to see the 38-year-old lad capture another one after having a pretty good season, if I may say so.

Although the final wasn't by far an entertaining one, it had its sparkle here and there, even though many of us would have wanted to see a more balanced result. Unfortunately, after mastering the art of snooker in such an amazing way throughout the entire tournament, it seemed it was no energy left in Mark Allen's body.

Mark Allen - the 2014 Shanghai Masters runner-up

Bingham took his chance and practically flew at 4-0, leaving his opponent way behind and setting not just a physically gap, but also a mental one.

However, Allen battled hard and managed to pull back three frames, ending up trailing by 5-3, just as the last frame of the first session was starting. And if it wasn't for a green, Allen would have pulled back another one. Sadly for him though, the first session ended with Stuart in control 6-3.

The last session was purely dominated by the Englishman, who although has played far from his best, managed to close the deal by 10-3.

The champ at work

After a 35-minutes frame which went Bingham's way (even if Allen scored the highest break per frame - a 42 one) the following three were relatively easy wins as Stuart hit in breaks of 30, 57 and 81 to complete his victory run.

Clearly delighted to have captured his second ranking title, and a very important one, if I may say so, Stuart Bingham was handed the glassy trophy and a cheque of £85,000 after a ceremony that took ages to start (rumours say that the dinosaurs returned).