Chris Melling has been crown the World Master of pool, despite missing out on his bid to become the first player to win three World 8-Ball pool titles.

Melling, who won the Embassy World Championship in 2201 and 2003, reached the final of the competition for the third time last week. The event is now sponsored by online betting group 888.com, and attracts top players from around the world.

Chris joined the competition in the later stages, starting with a tough draw against World Cup champion Carl Boyes in the last 32. After going 3-0 down he fought back to win 8-5.

He came up against Sam Newell of Northern Ireland in the last 16 and beat him 8-6 after a tough match which saw them level at 6-all before the Keighley player pulled out all the stops.

In the quarter-final he met Wales No1 Keith Jones and after a scrappy opening which saw him 5-3 down he came back to win 9-5.

In the semi-final he took on Phil Harrison who had reached the same stage in each of the last three years. Melling edged into a 5-4 lead at the interval and went on to win 10-5 to reach his third final.

"Two other people have also won the World title twice, and I wanted to be out on my own with three wins," Melling sid.

He faced 21-year-old Gareth Potts of Stoke-on-Trent and was 7-3 down at the interval. Potts won the next two frames to make it 9-3 in the first to 11 match, but Melling fought back to 10-7 before Potts broke off and cleared up to win the match without the Keighley player getting to the table.

"Gareth had just lost his father who collapsed and died, so perhaps he deserved the win," Melling said.

"Gareth has been the form player in the last couple of months and deserved to win, I missed shots early on that nine times out of 10 I would have got with my eyes shut."

Despite the disappointment of missing out on a third World Championship Melling continued his sparkling form winning the first World Masters event at Blackpool's Hilton Hotel last weekend.

On his way to the final he beat World No1 Darren Appleton, former World Champion Carl Morris, Andrew McDonald and snooker professional Andy Lee. In the semi-final he defeated England International Lee Clough 9-5 after fighting his way back from 4-0 down.

In the final he met five times Australian champion Alec Evreniadis. This time he made no mistake and secured the title with a 9-5 victory.

"It doesn't really make up for losing the world championship but it's still another world title. And I've earned some decent money," he said.

As well as the trophy Melling picked up a cheque for £5,000 for winning the Masters title to go with the £3,000 he won as runner-up in the World Championship event.

He has also recently returned from playing exhibition matches and promoting the game in South Africa and tonight (Friday) starts the Challenge Snooker Tour in Wales.

The World Masters is due to be broadcast on Sky Sports 2 starting on June 22 before moving to Sky Sports Extra.