International Championship: Mark Allen beats Neil Robertson 10-5 in final

Allen had three century breaks to build a 7-1 interval lead in Daqing

Mark Allen won the International Championship with a 10-5 victory over Neil Robertson in Sunday's final.

The Masters champion dominated the opening session in Daqing to win his first ranking tournament of the season.

The Northern Irishman, 32, built a 7-1 interval lead and held off a fight back by Robertson, 36, who recovered to 7-4 during the final session in China.

Allen hit his fourth century of the match to move within a frame of victory before taking a scrappy decider.

Following his semi-final victory over Matthew Stevens, world number 12 Allen continued his good run of form during the first session of Sunday's final - reeling off three century breaks to take control of the match.

Australian Robertson, who had overcome Jack Lisowski in Saturday's semi-finals, won the first three frames after the interval to reduce the deficit but Allen responded by winning three of the final four frames to clinch a convincing victory.

"The first session in particular I didn't put a foot wrong," said Allen.

"You don't go 7-1 up against Neil Robertson if you're not doing things right but it was a bit of a grind to get over the line.

"I think this is very close to the form I showed all week at the Masters so the signs are good going forward."

Allen's triumph earned him his fourth world ranking title and he will move up from 12th to seventh in the rankings.