Ronnie O'Sullivan staged a stirring recovery to win six of the last seven frames in defeating Stephen Maguire 9-7 in an astonishing German Masters final in Berlin.

In one of the best finals to have been played out in recent years - with four centuries made in the opening four frames for the first time in a major final - O'Sullivan did well to escape from the afternoon session trailing only 5-3 at the city's stylish Tempodrom.

It was O'Sullivan's 23rd tournament win and his first ranking event success since the Shanghai Masters in 2009.

O'Sullivan was in his element under severe pressure, recapturing the form that carried him to world titles in 2001, 2004 and 2008.

"All credit to Stephen. He's had a great tournament, and I think he is playing as well as he was when he first came on the scene," said O'Sullivan, whose win should help ensure his place among the top 16 ahead of the World Championship in April.

"I think he outplayed me today, but I just hung in there. This is the best venue we play in now. The atmosphere we play in here is the best.

"It is brilliant to play here, and get to the final. Every victory now is nice. If I can nick a tournament here and there now, that is what I want. It would be nice to go out at the top."

Maguire cut a figure of depression despite playing some wonderful snooker. "Once it went 6-6, Ronnie had the rhythm and I had chances to go 7-5," said Maguire.

"Getting to the final was good. I didn't expect to get to the final, but at the moment I just want to jump off a bridge."

The 2004 UK champion Maguire quickly moved 6-3 ahead before a 2,500 sell-out crowd with knocks of 46 and 69 seemingly setting the Glaswegian on the road to riches in the final.

He was first at the table in the 10th frame, but breaking down on 40 proved costly as O'Sullivan mopped up with an 89 to close to 6-4 behind.

That quickly became 6-5 with O'Sullivan returning to the table to make 54 after an opening 24.

O'Sullivan somehow dragged himself level at 6-6 at the mid-session interval despite Maguire building up a sturdy advantage with a knock of 52.

Both men had chances late in the frame, but O'Sullivan held his nerve to slot yellow, green, brown, blue and pink to restore parity. There was a quick punch of the air to illustrate O'Sullivan's air of determination.

That character began to show on the scoreboard as O'Sullivan won the next two frames to leave himself on the brink of victory leading 8-6. A 67 earned the Englishman a 7-6 lead before he edged a tough 14th frame with modest contributions of 43 and 32.

O'Sullivan looked likely to win his sixth straight frame for the title, but broke down on 43 among the balls by missing a tricky black. Maguire steadied himself magnificently with an awe-inspiring clearance of 82 enough to continue the contest.

The final frame of the match ran for 46 minutes and needed a re-rack before it finally fell in O'Sullivan's favour.

O'Sullivan opened with a 46 before leaving Maguire needing a snooker after holing the final yellow. Maguire got the snooker on the blue as O'Sullivan holed the white while escaping from the snooker as a final frame decider suddenly appeared likely.

It was a safety duel on the final colours until O'Sullian slotted blue and pink to emerge victorious.

First session report

Stephen Maguire opened up a 5-3 lead over Ronnie O'Sullivan in the German Masters final with four centuries made in the opening four frames at Berlin's Tempodrom.

O'Sullivan led the head-to heads between the two men 13-3 approaching the match, and immediately stamped his authority on matters with an opening break of 111 giving him the first frame after Maguire had broken down on 26.

Maguire would not make the same mistake in the second frame as a run of 130 saw him level at 1-1 by beating Ali Carter's highest break of the tournament - a 129 made against Joe Perry in the first round - by one point.

Having enjoyed wins over John Higgins, Judd Trump and Shaun Murphy to reach the final, Maguire was clearly in the mood to produce. He followed up his opening century with knocks of 101 and 128 enough to carry the Scotsman 3-1 clear at the mid-session interval.

It is the first time four centuries have been made in the opening four frames of a major final.

O'Sullivan had done little wrong, but a missed red while on a break of 58 in the fifth frame proved fatal as Maguire returned to the table to snag the frame on the final pink after a demanding safety exchange was won by the former UK champion.

O'Sullivan crawled over the line to trail 4-2 after Maguire had missed a tough green late in the sixth frame only for his opponent to sink a magnificent double on the penultimate red with an earlier 55 providing the platform for his success in frame seven.

O'Sullivan continued to maintain his composure in the face of such a barrage of heavy scoring and managed to land the eighth frame with a run of 75 boosted by an exceptional long red after Maguire was forced to play safe on 24.

The closing session begins at 7.30pm with the first man to nine frames landing the title.

Desmond Kane - on Twitter @DesmondKane / Eurosport