Neil Robertson and Ali Carter will be back for a fourth and final session tomorrow afternoon of their Betfred.com World Championship semi-final after the Englishman prevented his opponent from winning a day early.

Victory for Robertson with a session to spare looked distinctly possible when he led 14-7, but The Captain clinched the next two frames before the Aussie took a tense last of the night to hold a 15-9 overnight advantage.

The blond left-hander from Melbourne needs only two more frames to become the first Australian finalist since Eddie Charlton in the pre-Crucible days of 1975.

But he will be aware that Martin Gould required the same number last Saturday afternoon to beat him yet failed to do so, and while it’s a huge ask for Carter it’s still a shade too early to write his tournament obituary.

How different it could have been but for a stroke of bad luck for the Essex player in the night’s final frame. Carter potted a long green only to see the cue ball bounce back to the baulk end of the table and drop into a pocket.

That enabled his rival to clear up and let out a ‘Robertson Roar’, accompanied by a fist pump that acknowledged what a big frame it was. A four-frame deficit would have been infinitely more recoverable for Carter.

Instead, the 2008 runner-up is a 14/1 chance to reach his second world final in three years, with Robertson a 1/50 shot to complete the job and give himself an opportunity to become only the second Crucible hero from outside the British Isles after Cliff Thorburn in 1980.

Robertson is now odds-on for the title at 10/11 in anticipation of him getting to the final. If you think Carter can make a remarkable recovery and go on to lift the trophy, the price is 25/1.

Graeme Dott, 10-6 up on Mark Selby, is 2/1 in the outright market with The Jester at 3/1.

That duo play session three of their semi-final tomorrow morning and I’ll be back with all the news.

Until then, goodnight.

We could have our first 2010 Betfred.com World Championship finalist tonight…Neil Robertson needs to win the last four frames of the session against Ali Carter to reach Sunday and Monday’s showdown.

The blond Melbourne left-hander is 13-7 up against Ali Carter, who took the evening’s opener but has since appeared to become increasingly desperate as he has fallen further and further behind.

Carter’s win that made it 10-7 came in a frame that was as scrappy as you can possibly imagine, lasting 39 minutes and including a highest break of just 13.

But once that was out of the way the Australian began to move through the gears and after a 48 and 43 got him off the mark for the session, he knocked in runs of 116 and 78 to give himself a chance of a day off tomorrow.

The latter break was launched by a shot of apparent frustration and desperation from Carter. Snookered behind the green, The Captain smashed the cue ball off two cushions into the pack of reds and scattered them around the table. From that point on Robertson was in complete control of the frame.

The outright betting is now as easy as 1-2-3. Robertson is the Evens favourite, Graeme Dott 2/1 and Mark Selby 3/1. Carter is out to 20/1.

It’s all change in the outright betting for the Betfred.com World Championship, and the man who began the day as favourite is now among the outsiders.

Mark Selby was 11/8 this morning to lift the trophy for the first time, but now trails 10-6 to Graeme Dott and has drifted to 11/4 as a result.

New favourite at 11/8 is Neil Robertson, who is also involved in a 10-6 scoreline in the other semi-final. Unlike Selby, however, the balance is in the favour of the Aussie against Ali Carter.

Dott is in to 2/1 second favourite after another brilliant session for the 2006 champion. He made the second 146 total clearance of the tournament – only the second ever at the Crucible – and added breaks of 86 and 84 in outshining the Masters champion again.

But the frame that probably pleased the Scot most was the 15th, in which he trailed 52-0 to Selby but produced a run of 66 to pinch it.

That atoned for frame two of the session when the reverse scenario occurred – Dott led 66-0 before breaking down and a red, a foul and a 63 clearance let in Selby for what looked like being a pivotal steal.

They are back tomorrow and Dott is now 4/9 to reach a third final in seven years, with Selby out to 7/4 as he tries to ensure the hard work of his victory over Ronnie O’Sullivan was not in vain.

Robertson and Carter are back on at 7pm…more from me then.

You wait 33 years for a 146 in the Betfred.com World Championship…and then two come along at once.

After Mark Allen notched the next best thing to a maximum last week, Graeme Dott followed suit today when potting 15 reds, 14 blacks, a pink and all the colours to take an 8-5 lead over Mark Selby.

The solitary pink came early in the break to dispel the 147 alert, but it was a pity the 2006 champion missed out on the maximum which would have triggered the promised Betfred donation of £147,000 to the Killing Cancer charity.

Still, there’s time yet and Killing Cancer did benefit from £10,700 raised by the sponsors on yesterday’s charity day.

Graeme Dott’s form in this 2010 Betfred.com World Championship has been a revelation, and the winner of the title four years ago is continuing to make life tough for favourite Mark Selby.

Leading 5-3 overnight, the Scot has maintained his two-frame advantage at the interval of this afternoon’s session and will be kicking himself for not having extended his lead.

A break of 49 was the launchpad for the Pocket Rocket to go 6-3 up and he looked poised to stretch further clear after an opening contribution of 66 in the next frame. But Selby produced a brilliant clearance of 63 to pinch it on the black, leaving Dott to rue a frame that got away, and then reduced his arrears to one at 6-5.

However, Dott made it 7-5 thanks to a run of 84 and gave a fist pump after potting the decisive ball, clearly recognising the importance of that frame.

The odds are tight for this one now. Selby is still the favourite at 8/11 but Dott is in to Evens and a highly significant half-session is in store.

In other news at the Crucible, Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg, the MP for Sheffield Hallam, appeared in the arena before the start of this afternoon’s play. And I’m delighted to say he expressed his appreciation for Betfred’s sponsorship of the tournament.

Also present is World Snooker chairman Barry Hearn, who in a press conference revealed a deal has been agreed for the World Championship to stay at the Crucible until 2015. Great news for snooker fans!

Neil Robertson started and finished with a century in session two of his Betfred.com World Championship semi-final against Ali Carter to lead 10-6 at the halfway point of the match.

The session score was 4-4, with Carter’s quartet of frames being sandwiched in the middle of Robertson’s haul, the Englishman’s comeback halted towards the end of the stint.

When Carter, the 2008 runner-up, won four frames in a row to trail 8-6 it looked like he was getting a real foothold in the match. He made breaks of 76 and 81 in the space of three frames, his biggest contributions of the match.

But the Aussie was in no mood to have his lead erased further and after stopping the rot, he added a 104 to his 140 total clearance in the morning’s opening frame to restore his advantage of four.

Having been as short as 1/8 before drifting out to 2/7, Robbo is back in to 1/6 to become the first Australian finalist since Eddie Charlton in 1975. He is also contesting favouritism for the title, now 13/8 and just a fraction of a point bigger than 6/4 ‘jolly’ Mark Selby.

Carter will know he must win tonight’s third session if he is to have a realistic chance of overhauling his opponent and is now a 4/1 shot for the match and 8/1 for the crown.

Selby and Graeme Dott resume at 2.30pm with the latter 5-3 up. Back later will all the news from that one…

Ali Carter has knuckled down and fought his way back into his Betfred.com World Championship semi-final against Neil Robertson, winning the last three frames to make it 8-5.

After that 140 total clearance by the Aussie in this morning’s opener, Robertson moved 8-2 ahead when he took the next frame on a respotted black.

But since then Carter has found his range. He will have gained confidence from winning his first frame of the day and then before the interval knocked in a 76, his highest contribution of the match so far.

Frame 13 was tactical and Carter got his opponent in a tricky snooker which yielded him 20 points, enabling the 2008 runner-up to reduce his deficit further.

From being a 1/8 chance when he was well on top, Robertson is now on the drift in the face of the Carter comeback and is out to 2/7 to reach the final. Carter is a 5/2 chance.

On the outright front, the blond left-hander from Melbourne is now vying for favouritism with Mark Selby and is a 6/4 shot to lift the trophy. The Jester still tops the list at 11/8.

Carter can be backed at 12/1 but that price looks sure to come under pressure if his resurgence continues…

Good morning and welcome to our updates on day 14 of the Betfred.com World Championship here at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield.

No finishes are scheduled today, but we should move closer to knowing which two players will battle it out on Sunday and Monday for the sport’s most prestigious trophy.

I say no finishes are scheduled but Neil Robertson may be thinking differently. Resuming 6-2 up on Ali Carter, the blond Aussie has opened up this morning with a total clearance of 140 to extend his advantage and if he can repeat yesterday’s session score, it could be all over this evening.

But that prediction is probably unfair on Carter. In terms of their respective abilities, there’s no reason to think it should be so one-sided and the Englishman should be fresher today after visibly being jaded in the first session following his late Wednesday night heroics against Shaun Murphy.

It’s already starting to look a big ask for the 2008 runner-up though and he has drifted to 5/1 to reach the final again, with Robertson a red-hot 1/8 shot to give himself a chance of becoming only the second winner of this tournament from outside the British Isles.

As for a correct score, Betfred are making 17-9 to Robertson the slight favourite at 13/2, which would mean two frames of the last session on Saturday afternoon being played…

Scheduling at the Betfred.com World Championship is often a bone of contention, and the order of play has definitely had an influence in the first sessions of today’s semi-finals.

Both Mark Selby and Ali Carter, who were involved in titanic tussles last night, appeared to be feeling the effects of those exertions when they reappeared today and find themselves trailing.

Carter was visibly struggling with fatigue when he lost the first five frames to Neil Robertson, ultimately ending the session 6-2 down, and it was not a top-form Selby that started out against Graeme Dott tonight.

Dott leads 5-3, a surprising scoreline for many people considering the way The Jester despatched Ronnie O’Sullivan.

The Scot’s freshness enabled him to knock in a break of 79 in the opening frame and he subsequently added runs of 70, 48, 50 and 93 to move 5-2 up.

But Selby woke from his slumber just in time to bang in a total clearance of 142 which will boost his morale for when the match resumes tomorrow afternoon.

Still the favourite to lift the trophy on Monday, Masters champion Selby is out to 11/8 with Robertson the 7/4 second favourite and Dott in to 7/2. Carter is the 8/1 outsider.

Selby is 8/13 to reach the final for the second time, with Dott 6/5.

In the morning, Robertson will resume as a 1/5 chance to beat Carter, who is 10/3 to repeat his feat of reaching the 2008 final.

I’ll be back with all the news from the Crucible tomorrow.

Goodnight.

Graeme Dott has maintained the fine start he made to his Betfred.com World Championship semi-final against Mark Selby, building a 3-1 lead at the mid-session interval.

The 2006 champion was the outsider for the match but has taken control of proceedings so far, kicking off with a break of 79 in the opener and could even have whitewashed Selby in the first half-session as he had chances in the only frame his opponent won.

Breaks of 70 and 48 claimed the last two frames before the break for Dott, whose form during this event has been a revelation and he is actually performing much better now than when he captured the crown four years ago.

He is still not the favourite for the match though. Selby remains the ‘jolly’ at 4/7, with Dott in to 5/4, essentially because 17 frames are required to win a match that could potentially go on late into Saturday night.

And Betfred still have Selby as the Evens favourite to lift the trophy, the price to which he was cut after a big bet was laid following his win over Ronnie O’Sullivan last night.

Dott is now 5/1, trimmed a point from his odds before today’s action began. Neil Robertson, who leads 6-2 against Ali Carter, is a 7/4 chance and his opponent 8/1.

Incidentally, for any darts fans out there, leading PDC players Colin Osborne and Andy Hamilton are at the Crucible tonight, suited and booted and enjoying the action!