The first session of today’s Welsh Open final between John Higgins and Ali Carter is now underway, click below for updates throughout the day…
Afternoon
First blood goes to the black-shirted John Higgins who has managed to knock in a terrific break of 95 following a slightly unfortunate safety shot from Carter. 1-0 to the Scot with a further seven frames to come in this first session.
It looked like Ali would be able to get a few points on the board in frame two as John left him a red over the left-centre but he could not finish on a colour and now John is back in with the reds spread far and wide. The break is up to 34 and it is hard to see John missing from here unless he falls victim to a kick or something. Well he misses, but not before making a break of 101. Excellent start from the reigning world champion.
John marching on relentlessly it seems, a break of 71 putting him 3-0 in front barring snookers. The good thing for Carter at least is that having seen John miss when in, he can now at least get his hand on the table and pot a few balls…
Not that it has helped him in frame four, Higgins with his second century of the match, this time a fabulous total clearance of 137 is in total command right now. Faultless snooker. Referee Brendan Moore who is in charge of his first final could not wish for an easier match to referee right now!
Carter gets frame five underway with a nice opening red to give himself a chance to get himself back into this final. I would say that he needs to take at least two, probably three of the remaining four frames this afternoon to give himself any realistic chance tonight. The break ends at 38 but he has played a good safety and forced an immediate error from John…
Oh dear Ali, having gone into the reds and left himself an excellent chance to get his first frame on the board he has missed the next ball and handed the chance straight back to Higgins. Although he trails by four frames already that is the first real error from the defending champion and could be a costly one…Higgins makes it 5-0 with 81 to the pink.
First chance to Carter again in frame six, can he kill it off in one visit this time? As Darren Morgan just said in commentary it’s just not happening for him at the moment as he breaks down on 39. An excellent safety gave him another chance but a horrible kick on a red to the left-centre has given John another chance to counter…but for once he has not been able to take it, missing a tricky red to the right-cent
re. Ali makes the most of it and takes the frame to rule out the possibility of a whitewash!
Frame seven has been a very scrappy affair, both failing to take chances and now the balls are running rather awkwardly. Carter though does look to be playing well now and if he can make it 5-3 going into tonight is right back in the match…but he can’t, a very nasty kick lets Higgins in to make it 6-1.
Despite a slip from Ali, Higgins cannot clear up in frame eight as he misses the final pink to left-centre to give Ali a glimmer of hope going into the evening session at 6-2.
Can Ali complete the greatest comeback of his career tonight or will Higgins be able to manage the lead until he wins a ninth frame? Tune in at 7pm to find out…
Evening
We are back underway at the Newport Centre and following a missed effort long-range attempt from John Higgins, Ali is in with an excellent chance to get some points on the board. I’ll say it quietly but it’s not a bad chance of a maximum, the balls look absolutely perfect…but he has missed a black off the spot as I type and the chance has fallen to Higgins…who makes no mistake with a break of 72. Just two away now…
Better from Carter in frame two as he opens with a break of 60, but he is not quite over the line yet…ok he is now, 7-3, we might see an interval yet!
A very interesting tenth frame there as Higgins on a maximum attempt misses the tenth red on 72 and Carter clears in style with 73 to snatch the frame and ensure that we will have a mid-session interval. Will that clearance and the resulting fist pump from Carter prove to be anything more than a consolation tonight?
Frame twelve saw several twists and turns but in the end it was Higgins who came through and heading into the mid-session interval with an 8-4 lead looks a certainty to seal his first ranking event title of the season tonight…
And that he does, a break of 76 following the interval finishing the job! The damage was done early on as he slipped 5-0 behind, following that it was a close contest.