Sam Craigie will appear in the semi-final of a ranking event for the first time in his career, after scoring a landmark 5-1 win over defending champion Ali Carter at the BetVictor German Masters in Berlin.
The 30-year-old from Wallsend first became professional back in 2011, but bowed out in his two previous quarter-final appearances at the 2019 China Open and the 2022 UK Championship. Tomorrow he will step out in the single table setup at the iconic Tempodrom to take on Judd Trump.
In recent months Craigie has started working with coach Chris Henry and Rapid Transformational Therapist Ross Turner and has credited them with a turnaround in his mentality, which has led to achieving this evening’s momentous victory.
Carter’s title defence ends two wins short of a second straight trip to the final. Last year he lifted the Brandon Parker Trophy after a magnificent 10-3 defeat of Tom Ford in the title match. He has enjoyed a tremendous 12 months since then, reaching further finals at the Players Championship, Wuhan Open and the Masters.
Craigie blitzed to a 4-0 advantage this evening, hammering home breaks of 71, 65, 50 and 103 to get there. Carter crafted a typically gutsy 90 in the fifth to stay in contention. However, his resistance was to be short lived.
The sixth frame saw Craigie deposit the first ten reds with blacks as he chased a maximum break to win in style. However, he was unlucky to then pot two reds at once and deny himself the 147 chance. In the end his run finished on 89 as he secured the 5-1 victory.
“I stayed in the zone, just focussing on me. That is about it, trying to blank everything out and focus on my game. People have said it for years and years since I was young, that I have all the talent in the world. I just didn’t believe it. Every tournament I changed my cue action. In the last two months I haven’t changed my cue action. I’ve been able to enjoy playing."
Sam Craigie
World Number 50
On the other table, 2019 German Masters winner Kyren Wilson reached his first semi-final of the season by demolishing Fan Zhengyi 5-0.
Wilson captured the title here at the Tempodrom five years ago when he scored a thrilling 9-7 win over David Gilbert. The Warrior enjoys competing in Germany, having claimed three of his five ranking event wins in the country.
This evening’s encounter saw Wilson make breaks of 125, 69, 51 and 55 on his way to victory. Next up he faces World Championship semi-finalist Si Jiahui in the last four.
