Ali Carter ‘Barges’ Ronnie O’Sullivan Out Of The World Championship

If you like your snooker with a bit of added spice the Crucible was the place to be today as Ali Carter dumped Ronnie O’Sullivan out of the World Championship in a fiery affair.

The Captain – who led the contest almost throughout – played great stuff under pressure as he held off the Rocket to wrap up a famous 13-9 win.

The victory is Ali’s first ever professional win over his Essex nemesis and means the sport’s box office star and the tournament favourite is sent home, extending his trophyless run at the World Championship to five years.

Carter can be congratulated for an excellent performance where he established a 5-3 lead in the first session and tenaciously held onto it until the end. Having led the match 8-3, Ali had to battle to keep control as the Rocket hit a run of five frames from six to get back within a frame.

It looked like a massive momentum swing before Carter stepped up a gear again to secure one of his biggest career wins – and exact some revenge having been on the wrong end of two previous finals between the pair here in 2008 and 2012.

Needle

The tie very nearly boiled over in frame 19 when Ronnie appeared to barge past his opponent as they crossed paths walking round the table.

There was then a short exchange of words between the players with O’Sullivan allegedly calling Carter ‘angry’ before referee Paul Collier asked both players to calm down.

This followed reports in the build-up to the match where Carter was alleged to have accused tournament organisers of showing preferential treatment to O’Sullivan.

With this being the fifth meeting between the two at the Crucible, this rivalry is now established as the third most frequent match-up at this great venue. While this meeting marks a disappointing end to an otherwise outstanding season for O’Sullivan, this is a huge result for Carter and it looks as though he has the fire in the belly to take on anyone in his path in Sheffield.

On this performance, Carter will take some stopping. In the key moments of this match, he gave every shot his full attention and pulled off some truly top-class pots.