“I’m as surprised as you lot are,” declared Ali Carter to the press as he got through to his second Betfred.com World Snooker Championships’ final http://content.betfred.com/snooker
Starting the Championships at 80/1, Carter’s doggedness, determination, not to mention carrot drinks and Peter Ebdon all appear to have gone some way towards this year’s success.
He sets up a potential tie with Ronnie O’Sullivan – interestingly the last time Carter was in a Crucible final, he lost to The Rocket.
Ronnie O’Sullivan has reached his fourth World Snooker Championship final after defeating Matthew Stevens 17-10 in the last four of the competition.
The Rocket will face Ali Carter in a repeat of the 2008 final where O’Sullivan breezed to an 18-8 victory.
The three-time Crucible winner is 1/5 to beat the Captain who is 100/30 to pull off an upset and win his first world title.
Stephen Maguire admitted that he’d underestimated Ali Carter in their Betfred.com World Snooker Championships semi final http://content.betfred.com/snooker
Carter looked in danger of running away with the match last night until Maguire started a mini comeback. Too little too late though as the Scot eventually lost 17-12. But Maguire still thinks if Ronnie O’Sullivan gets through his semi final, there’s only one name going on the trophy.
By the end of today’s action at the Crucible, we will know the players who will be fighting for the 2012 Betfred.com World Snooker Championship in the final.
There are two sessions left in the match between Ronnie O’Sullivan and Matthew Stevens, with the Englishman currently holding an 11-5 advantage.
The Rocket is the 2/7 favourite to lift his fourth trophy at the Crucible on Monday evening here in Sheffield and looks very likely to finish off the job against Stevens today.
This afternoon, Ali Cater and Stephen Maguire resume their tie at 14-10 in favour of the Captain. The Scot did win the last two frames last evening to remain in contention for his first final spot in the game’s biggest prize.
Ali Carter has one foot in the final of the 2012 Betfred.com World Snooker Championship after finishing with a 14-10 advantage over Stephen Maguire going into their final session of the semi-final at the Crucible.
Carter reached the final in 2008 where he lost to Ronnie O’Sullivan 18-8 but is hoping to go one better this time around.
In the other tie, O’Sullivan leads Matthew Stevens 11-5 when they resume tomorrow morning at 10am, with their final session at 7pm in the evening.
Action resumes at the Crucible this morning at 10am with Ali Carter and Stephen Maguire back on the baize in the second session of their semi-final encounter.
The Captain established a 5-3 lead yesterday after winning the final two frames of the afternoon to edge a scrappy start to their tie.
Both players can’t be separated in the market at 5/6.
The standard of play wasn’t much better in the second semi-final where Ronnie O’Sullivan came out with a 5-3 advantage. The highest break the Rocket could manage was a 66 but the three-time champion was able to assert control of the match by winning the tight frames which could have gone either way.
Ronnie is now the 4/9 favourite to lift up the trophy on May 7.
Ronnie O’Sullivan has finished his evening session with Matthew Stevens with a 5-3 scoreline.
It was a low scoring opening eight frames from these two players with an 80 from the Welshman the highest in the final frame of the night.
Earlier in the day it was the 2009 finalist Ali Carter who established a 5-3 lead over Stephen Maguire.
Both matches will resume tomorrow, with their conclusion set for Saturday.
Ali Carter has finished his opening session against Stephen Maguire with a 5-3 advantage.
The Captain is now into 5/6 to beat the Scot, while Maguire is the same price to reach his first final at the Crucible.
It wasn’t a session to live long in the memory as both players struggled to settle in the early exchanges.
The man from Essex took the last two frames of the afternoon to go into tomorrow with a lead against Maguire.
Carter overcomes illness to make it to the semis at Betfred World Snooker Championships Ali Carter has made it through to the semi finals after beating 2 of snooker’s young talents. First Judd Trump and then the sensational debutant, Jamie Jones http://content.betfred.com/snooker
Earlier this season he was looking at taking time off or even retiring due to illness, but he’s proved he can compete with the best at the Betfred.com World Snooker Championships. Now though he faces more experienced opposition in the form of Stephen Maguire, the man who put out Stephen Hendry.
A spirited comeback came too late for Jamie Jones to overcome Ali Carter at the Betfred.com World Snooker Championships http://content.betfred.com/snooker
12-8 behind, with Carter just needing one to win, he fought back to 12-11, before Carter finished the match. The 24-year-old Welshman made some of the highest breaks in the tournament and says he’ll be back and next time he wants to lift the trophy.
