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The 23-year-old Yorkshireman trailed Fergal O�Brien 6-2 last year and spent the hours between sessions �relaxing� with fianc� Lyndsey in his hotel room before fighting back to win 10-9.
And he admitted that the same trick worked this time as he battled from 5-3 down against Mark Williams to triumph in another final-frame decider.

�I did exactly the same as last year after the first session,� said Hunter. �It seems to work!

�I�m so happy to have won the match � especially to retain the title. Only Stephen Hendry and Cliff Thorburn have won it in successive years � so I�m up there with them.

�Mark was favourite before the match and I was struggling at 5-0 down. The balls just weren�t running for me. I really needed to win the last three frames of the first session � that left me with a chance.

�I was trying too hard at the start, but funnily enough I relaxed more and more as the match went on. I didn�t feel any pressure at all in the last frame.

�It�s the first time I have beaten Mark in seven attempts � and there was no better time to do it.

�Some people have said that I had an easy draw but there are no easy games here as they are all top-16 players.

�My dad says I need to go to the gym more but I�ve proved that I have a bit of stamina and hopefully I can go on to win the World Championship.

�I really believe in myself now � I am competing with the best in the world and beating them.�

A bitterly disappointed Williams said: �I�ve lost in a few finals but I really feel that I threw this one away. I should have had a better lead in the first session and there were a few nerves towards the end.

�My form's been improving recently, but a defeat like this could set me back to square one. I will try to put it out of my mind but it will be tough.

�The more finals I lose, the less confidence I have going into them. I know how Stephen Hendry felt now when I beat him 10-9 in 1998, and it�s not a nice feeling.

�All credit to Paul � he made a fantastic break out of nothing in the last frame.� rest of the season behind me and try my best.

�My biggest aim is to win the world championship and I know I need more stamina if I am going to do that. This was only a five-day tournament but it felt like two weeks.

�I�m looking forward to the Masters now. I�ve got a tough draw against Stephen Lee in the first round but I will go to Wembley with a lot of confidence.�

Doherty was frustrated to have come off second-best for the second successive tournament, having lost 10-1 to O�Sullivan in the final of the UK Championship in York last month.

�I am a bit down because sport is all about winning and you don�t like to lose when you get so close.

�Maybe in a few days I will look back on the tournament and realise that I did pretty well to get to the final, but at the moment I am very disappointed. I played well in the semis against Stephen Hendry and I thought I was going to do it.

�I put Paul under the cosh a lot today but he kept getting out of it by knocking in a long one. The difference between this year and last was that he was much more consistent and he didn�t miss many easy balls.

�I made a few errors in the first session and that cost me in the end. It was Paul�s day today and I take my hat off to him.

�I�m looking forward to the Masters � it�s always been one of my goals to win that one and I hope I can continue the form I have shown here.�