O'Sullivan keeps his nose in front

Ronnie O'Sullivan needs another four more frames to reach the quarter-finals at The Crucible
29 April 2013

Ronnie O'Sullivan turned on the style just when he looked to be wobbling to stay ahead of Ali Carter in their Betfair World Championship second-round showdown.

A gripping middle session saw O'Sullivan struggle at times, especially with his long potting and safety play, but he bookended in the afternoon at the Crucible with two breaks of 86 and finished 9-7 in front.

They return on Monday night to finish off, with 13 frames the target for a place in the quarter-finals, and Carter must know he missed a great chance to at the very least level the match.

On Paul Hunter Day at the Crucible, set up to remember the much-missed three-time Masters champion and to promote the foundation set up in his name, O'Sullivan was almost victim of the kind of comeback he faced when the late Leeds potter won the third of his titles at Wembley in 2004.

Beginning the second session armed with a 5-3 lead, O'Sullivan scored heavily in spells but when Carter got to 7-7 it was the underdog who had all the momentum. Hunter in his pomp might have capitalised but Carter could not.

O'Sullivan, who has beaten Carter in two Crucible finals, looked to be feeling the pressure of the occasion, but he regained the lead with a fluent 73 break. And when Carter missed a long red in the final frame it gave the 37-year-old O'Sullivan another chance.

He never looked like missing on his way to restoring the two-frame cushion, with Carter left to stew over how he had been mostly the better player in the session and yet had been unable to make it count.

O'Sullivan fired in 105 to lead 7-5, but he missed a frame-ball black to grind to a halt on 61 in the next frame and Carter cleared with 63. It was soon 7-7, but that was it for Carter.

O'Sullivan made a pair of brilliant cross-table doubles that had the crowd purring. It means O'Sullivan remains on course to stay unbeaten against Carter at major tournaments. This is their 13th meeting and it looks like it will go the same way as the previous 12 on Sunday night's evidence.

Ding Junhui had breaks of 59, 98, 74, 81 and a closing 103 in surging from 6-2 behind against Mark King to lead 9-7. Ricky Walden stayed ahead of Robert Milkins in their all-English tussle, finishing the day 10-6 in front after getting the better of their exchanges over morning and evening sessions, pursuing the incentive of a quarter-final against qualifier White.

World number eight Stuart Bingham was involved in a tight battle with 40-year-old Hastings man Mark Davis. Davis, who has reached three ranking event semi-finals this season to earn a top-16 ranking for the first time, trailed 7-5 at one stage before reeling off three in a row. But Bingham ended positively with breaks of 44 and 43 to level up at 8-8, ahead of Monday afternoon's concluding session. They are vying to face O'Sullivan or Carter.

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