Ali Carter enjoyed a triumphant return to the MrQ Masters, beating Welshman Mark Williams 6-4 at Alexandra Palace.
The Captain last appeared in snooker’s biggest invitational event back in 2020, when he benefitted from Ronnie O’Sullivan’s withdrawal to earn a place. Carter capitalised by making the final. After a fiercely contested encounter, he was pipped by Stuart Bingham 10-8.
After four years away from snooker’s biggest invitational event, Carter forced himself back into the world’s top 16 with a brilliant 2023. He landed a first ranking title since 2016 by winning the German Masters and was runner-up at the Wuhan Open.
Defeat sees Williams bow out disappointingly early, having come close to capturing the title in the previous two seasons. Last year he was runner-up after losing a hard fought final with Judd Trump 10-8 and Williams bowed out in 2022 after an epic semi-final with Neil Robertson ended in a 6-5 defeat.
The first four frames this evening were shared, with Carter compiling a crucial 72 to head into the mid-session level at 2-2.
After the break Williams hammered in a run of 93 to move 3-2 ahead, before back-to-back centuries of 118 and 133 from Carter gave him a 4-3 advantage.
Williams restored parity in the eighth after Carter spurned a tricky brown to the middle and the Welshman made 86 to level at 4-4.
With the match reaching the business end, Carter recovered from that miss to make nerveless contributions of 61 and 73 to close out a fine 6-4 victory. Next up he faces either defending champion Judd Trump or Kyren Wilson in the quarter-finals.
“I played well and I finished off really well. All parts of my game were good. I potted a lot of tricky balls tonight and that was pleasing."
Ali Carter
Number 11 Seed
“Walking out I couldn’t even hear what you (Rob Walker) were saying. That is how loud it was. I couldn’t hear ‘the Captain Ali Carter’, it was unbelievable. I had to start walking down the stairs. It was brilliant," added 44-year-old Carter.
“It was like the Conference Centre. I was lucky enough to play there in 2000 before it got knocked down, that was phenomenal and this is on par and if not better.”
Williams said: “I think it was a pretty good game to be honest. Ali made a lot of good breaks, especially the one to go 5-4 up which was a tremendous break. I missed two or three sitters, but that is what I do at my stage of my career. They creep in.”