There’s just no stopping Ali Carter at Newport it seems. The world number five and defending champion completed a 6-3 victory over Scotland’s Stephen Maguire tonight to book his place in the 2010 final where he will face either Ronnie O’Sullivan or John Higgins…
From the start today Carter looked to be in strong form and raced into a 3-0 lead with top breaks of 95 and 64. Maguire however was erratic and struggling to put together a break of note, in stark contrast to his excellent display against Mark Williams in last night’s quarter-final.
As the match went on Stephen did begin to score more heavily but ultimately Ali’s three frame headstart proved to be too much to make up and in fact remained until the end when Ali sealed his final spot with a break of 80 following a poor Maguire safety.
Up until now Ali has struggled to repeat his form of 12 months ago this season, the birth of his first child and a change of cue perhaps contributing to that. Now however he is through to his third ranking event final and at a venue that he obviously has good memories of, will be a threat against whoever makes it through this evening’s mouthwatering second semi-final to face him.
For Maguire it was not a good day but with runs to the semi-finals of the UK Championship, Masters and Welsh Open tournaments recently his form appears to be coming back slowly. What he really needs now I feel is one really good win against a top player such as an O’Sullivan or Higgins to really inject some confidence into his game and help him make it into the winner’s circle again…