Ali Carter outclasses Ding Junhui in the quarter-final of 2011 Welsh Open – Snooker news
Ali Carter has beaten the Masters champion Ding Junhui in the best-of-eleven quarter-final match of the 2011 Welsh Open by an impressive frame score of 5-2.
Carter after beating the likes of Barry Hawkins and Peter Ebdon was very confident and showed both aspects of his game playing against the Chinese player.
It was a cagey first frame between Ding and Carter as they had to play a lot of safety shots until Ding got a chance to be among the reds but after a couple of reds and colours he picked up a kick which left him with a tough cushion shot, which resulted
in an in-off before Carter did likewise.
Out of four three reds were safe when Ding went for a long pot trying to break the deadlock but had to play safe as there was no break on. After exchanging a few chances finally the first blood went to Carter in the end 1-0.
In the second frame, Ding was gifted with a chance after Carter made a foul. Ding was toiling his rhythm before he missed a long red leaving Carter with a bunch of opened reds. Carter showed a couple of magical long pots and before missing an easy one bringing
the Chinese star back on the table. It was 55-48 when Ding had all the chance to wrap up the frame but suddenly a brown’s miss at 67-48 from Ding gifted Carter the frame 2-0.
The third frame also looked another scrappy affair at the start before Ding got a chance and this time splitting the reds made a magnificent break of 71 to pocket his first 2-1. Similarly, the following frame was also won by Ding with another dominant break
of 66 and the scores became equal at 2-2.
There were no reasonable breaks seen by Carter until he returned after the interval to take all three required frames in a row with dominant breaks of 59, 76, and 74 respectively and sealed his victory by 5-2.
The overall score line was 33-63, 67-70, 72-7, 73-1, 14-82, 0-76, and 13-74.
The Essex man also has won the Welsh Open two years ago against Joe Swail before losing it next year against the world number one John Higgins in the final. This could be the third time on trot if he goes into the finals.
Ali Carter will now face John Higgins again this year but in the semi-final on February 19, 2011 which surely is looking like a promising match.
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