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Carter beats Perry to make Crucible final

04/05/2008

Ali Carter will take on Ronnie O'Sullivan in the final of the World Snooker Championships after overcoming Joe Perry 17-15.

Carter won three frames in a row to book his place in the sport's showpiece event for the first time.

Perry had been 9-7 behind but a strong performance at the start of the third session had Carter on the back foot. However the 28-year-old rallied to head into the final session level at 12-12.

Perry once again made the better start and notched a break of 57 to win the first frame of the evening 97-1. However Carter would not be outdone and bounced back with a break of 63 to level things again.

Carter looked to be moving into his first lead since the second session of the match as he built a break of 50 only to run out of position.

The players exchanged safety shots but Perry got an outrageous fluke when the white flicked a red into the middle pocket on its way back to baulk. From there he cleared the table with a break of 62.

Carter won a scrappy frame just before the mid-session interval to keep his hopes alive but Perry showed his determination with a classy break of 110 to lead 15-14.

With his chances running out Carter was amazingly calm making a break of 77 to draw close to Perry once more.

In the final two frames both players made errors as the pressure began to show but it was Carter who eventually did enough to win the marathon match.