Ali Carter won his first ranking title in seven years as he totally dominated Tom Ford in the final of the German Masters in Berlin – and credited Whitney Houston for inspiring him.

Carter made eight half-century breaks and one century as he stormed back to win 10-3 after Ford had taken the first two frames.

The 43-year-old won six consecutive frames in the first session and then took four in a row in the evening session to clinch victory, his second German Masters title after his success in 2013.

His last ranking win came at the Yushan World Open in 2016. It is his fifth ranking title in total and it moves him back into the top 16 in the world.

“When you play the game as long as I have you think it won’t happen again but you have to keep believing,” said Carter.

“I am really proud of the way I played today. I put Tom under a lot of pressure. I just tried to keep the pressure on as much as I could. I have a great team behind me and I just want to say thank you. I am delighted to be in the winners’ circle again.

“Tom started really well, he made a century, I was 2-0 down. I still felt good. I thought I hadn’t done anything wrong yet and I sort of got going in the middle and won six frames on the spin.

“It’s so pleasing to play some of my best stuff when you’re right under the cosh and I’m really proud of myself.”

Carter’s victory is something of a triumph against the odds given his various health problems over the years. In 2003 he was diagnosed with Crohn’s disease, which led him to limit dairy and wheat/gluten in his diet. Then in 2013 he was diagnosed with testicular cancer. He received the all clear after successful surgery, only to fall victim to lung cancer the following year.

He has slipped out of the world’s elite top 16 players – who qualify automatically for the world championship – in recent years but has never been far outside that group and is always a dangerous opponent. He has reached two world championship finals, being unlucky to come up against Ronnie O’Sullivan both times at the Crucible, in 2008 and 2012.

Carter revealed in an interview with World Snooker that his mindset with regard to the final had been affected by a Whitney Houston song.

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“The journey of getting through the day, all you can see is getting to 10 [frames] seems like an absolute mile away,” Carter said.

“But you get to 10 by getting to one, to two, to three. I said ‘Just stay in the moment, forget 10, just break it all down into little bits, and step by step’ … I heard ‘Step by Step’ by Whitney Houston and it was quite a memorable song, and I just thought ‘Yeah, step by step, day by day’ and I’ve got there.”

Carter added, laughing: “The last two or three months I have dreamt three or four times that I’ve won a tournament, and when I’ve woken up I’ve been absolutely distraught because it was a dream!”

Ford was playing in his first ranking final. The 39-year-old from Leicester is having a fine season, having also reached the semi-final of the UK Championship in November, and is not far off the top 16 himself.

He made a break of 121 in the opening frame but could not sustain that level as Carter’s consistent scoring proved too much for him.