ALI CARTER was crowned the 2013 German Masters champion after completing a superb comeback to defeat Marco Fu.

The Essex star, nicknamed The Captain, recovered from 5-3 down to clinch his third major ranking title of his career – following his Welsh Open win in 2009 and Shanghai Masters triumph in 2010. His victory also made some amends for his defeat in the World Snooker Championship final to Ronnie O’Sullivan last year.

Trailing going into the crucial final session, Carter made a dream start as breaks of 116 and 121 fired him level at 5-5. As well as put him back in contention, it gave him the momentum he needed to turn the match on its head.

In complete opposite to earlier, things were going Carter’s way as he made it three frames in a row after dominating frame 11 to take the lead for the first time in the final.

Fu however, dug in and responded well in the next as a break of 48 proved enough to stop the rot and drew level at 6-6 at the mid-session interval.

But unfortunately for the Hong Kong star that was to be his only success of the night. After the restart Carter steered back into the lead with a smooth clearance of 71.

A determined looking Carter closed in on victory after dominating the next frame to take an 8-6 lead and was a single frame away from clinching the title.

And a useful break of 39 helped Carter on his way to a 9-6 win and seal the title as well as the 60,000 Euros cash prize.

His victory tonight takes him up three places in the world rankings up to 11th place and Fu’s run to the final has seen him move up to 21st.