The 1989–90 season saw the beginning of Hendry's period of dominance. That season, he won the 1989 UK Championship, Dubai Classic, Asian Open, Scottish Masters, The Masters and his first World Championship, beating Jimmy White 18–12 in the final, elevating him to the summit of the world rankings at the age of 21. The following season, he set a record of five world ranking titles in one season and recorded a hat-trick of Masters, beating Mike Hallett 9–8 after coming back from 0–7 and 2–8 in the final. However, Hendry failed to retain his world title, losing to Steve James in the quarter-finals. In the 1991–92 season, Hendry regained the World title, winning 10 frames in a row in the final to come from 8–14 down to defeat White 18–14, adding to the victories in both the Grand Prix and the Welsh Open. He won the Masters, too, and achieved his first competitive 147 break, in the Matchroom League. A year later, he retained both his World Championship title and a fifth consecutive Masters crown. The following season, he retained the World Championship, narrowly beating Jimmy White 18–17 in the final. Also in 1997, Stephen Hendry played Ronnie O'Sullivan in the Liverpool Victoria Charity Challenge final. The match was best of 17 frames. Hendry raced into a 6–1 and 8–2 lead with breaks of 110, 129 and 136, whereas O'Sullivan made a break of 106 in one of the two frames he won. O'Sullivan won the next six frames to level the match at 8–8. In the deciding frame, Hendry potted a long red to land himself on the black. Hendry went on to make a 147 maximum break, to win the match 9–8.