The wait for a Triple Crown title goes on for Ditton’s Barry Hawkins - but he vowed to continue the fight after losing the UK Championship final 10-8 to Judd Trump.

It’s now four defeats in snooker’s showcase finals for 45-year-old Hawkins, following losses to Ronnie O’Sullivan in the 2013 Worlds and 2016 Masters, as well as his 2022 Masters reverse against Neil Robertson.

After a late-night finish in his 6-5 semi-final win over Mark Allen, Hawkins trailed Trump 5-3 going into the evening session at the Barbican. They then shared four frames before Hawkins returned from the mid-session interval to move within one, and he made a good start to frame 14, leading 35-0, before the world No.1 replied with a break of 53 to go 8-6 up.

Requiring two for the title, Trump's run of 133 put him a frame away from his second UK crown, but Hawkins responded with breaks of 75 and 82. A tense 18th frame saw some superb safety play, but when Hawkins left a long brown on the Bristolian potted to make sure of victory.

Despite the defeat Hawkins, who had to go through the qualifiers to reach the tournament proper this year before banking the £100,000 runners-up prize, preferred to focus on a week of plus-points which began with a first-round victory over O'Sullivan and included wins against David Gilbert and Shaun Murphy. He is now up to 13th in the rankings.

“It's been a great week,” Hawkins told BBC Sport. “If someone said to me I would have got to the final before I came I would have took it, but once I was here obviously in the final you want to win.

“I think I missed the boat a little bit. I probably should have levelled tonight, I just wasn’t clinical enough in the balls.

“I’ve lost to the best player in the world at the moment and he’s No.1 for a reason. He’s such a fantastic player, his all-round game is phenomenal, really. It’s no disgrace losing 10-8.

“I’m still fighting, I keep fighting and days like this make it all worthwhile.”

Ironically Hawkins has the chance for some quick revenge after the first-round draw for the next of this season’s majors, The Masters, paired him against Trump on January 14.

“I take some confidence [and] keep going,” he added.

“I’ve got in[to] the Masters, which is another bonus, and I’ve got to play this man again, apparently, so it doesn’t get any easier.”