Ditton's Barry Hawkins admitted his Masters semi-final defeat to good friend Joe Perry would take some getting over as he missed out on a spot to face Ronnie O’Sullivan in Sunday’s showpiece at Alexandra Palace.

Perry needed a snooker to get back into the crucial eighth frame of Saturday's semi-final with Hawkins seemingly all set for a repeat of last year's showpiece as he led 5-2.

But Perry did exactly that and then took the next three frames, including the decider where Hawkins had a 50-point lead, to send him through to his first Masters final 6-5.

“I am absolutely devastated, I knew the game wasn’t over when he needed a snooker. I just played a bad positional shot getting onto the second to last red,” Hawkins said.

“After that (eighth) frame he played a lot better and he played an unbelievable clearance there in the end. I’m absolutely gutted.

“When you lose a frame like that the game just starts turning and Joe was getting more confident.

“It was hard to pick myself up after that. I just kept trying to stay positive and even in the last frame I was 50 ahead. I was in a good position but he made an unbelievable clearance.”

Three half-century breaks in the opening five frames had put Hawkins 3-2 ahead and when he added the next two frames Perry had his back right up against the wall.

But Perry, who had never got past the quarter-final stage at the Masters prior to this year, fought all the way to overcome last year’s runner-up.

Hawkins added: “I felt a bit stronger than Joe at the start, he was gone a little, but then all of a sudden he had a spring in his step and played a lot a lot better at the end.”

The Dafabet London Masters was LIVE on Eurosport 2 and featured daily studio analysis from Ronnie O’Sullivan, Jimmy White and Neal Foulds.