O’Sullivan overcomes slight stumble to hold off Carter

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

They return tonight 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.

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.

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.

Then when Carter missed a long red in the final frame it gave 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 the better player for most of the session and yet had been unable to make it count.

Before Carter produced his own wayward long red, it was O’Sullivan’s potting that was looking shaky from anything beyond medium range.

He fluffed two in the second frame of the afternoon and Carter punished him.

When O’Sullivan missed another red early in the next, Carter eased to an 87 break.

At a tournament where burnout has been cited as a factor in the early demise of so many big names, O’Sullivan was supposed to be the freshest man out in the field, having taken most of the year off since securing his fourth title at the Crucible last May.

He looked that way when he fired in 105, his second century of the match after Saturday’s 125, to lead 7-5.

But O’Sullivan missing a frame-ball black to halt a break on 61 in the next frame put Carter in with a chance to steal, and he held his nerve to make 63 and give O’Sullivan food for thought.

It was soon 7-7, with O’Sullivan rattling another black in the jaws early in the frame.

That was it for Carter, who could only watch as O’Sullivan produced some scintillating snooker when he needed it.

In each of the last two frames, he made a cross-table double of the highest quality to stay at the table and pile on the points that mean he remains on course to stay unbeaten against Carter at major tournaments.

This is their 13th meeting and looked like it was going the same way as the previous 12.

Steve Davis, commentating for the BBC, suggested O’Sullivan “looks like he’s been struggling out there” and said it was “great testament to his temperament” to be in front.

The overriding sense inside the Crucible is that a fifth world title for O’Sullivan is very much on the cards.

His rivals know he will be hard to stop, with Shaun Murphy saying: “I’ve had a really consistent year, but when Ronnie’s in the event it’s hard to look past Ronnie.”

Ken Doherty, the 1997 world champion, believes O’Sullivan has a crucial advantage as the opposition feel the toll of a long season.

“The likes of Mark Selby, Neil Robertson and Mark Allen have played almost 100 matches this season. That’s quite a lot,” Doherty said.

Those big names have fallen, but O’Sullivan remains on the prowl for the big prize.

Doherty told BBC Radio 5 Live: “He’s come into this tournament so fresh and he’s a fit young man as well. That may play a small part in the whole of this World Championship.”

A host of low-ranked players remain in the tournament, with 21-year-old world No 40 Michael White through to the quarter-finals in the bottom half of the draw, along with Barry Hawkins, and Doherty is not discounting a shock winner of the title, likening the situation to the 1986 championship when long shot Joe Johnson, from Bradford, triumphed.

“The bottom half is so open that we maybe could have a ‘Joe Johnson year’ this year, with someone coming completely from the field, a complete outsider, getting easily to the final at least,” Doherty said.

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, with that match ending this afternoon.

Judd Trump, meanwhile, has dismissed Murphy’s claim that his form may have nosedived because he began to take winning titles for granted.

The pair will go head to head in the quarter-finals after surviving the rash of big-name upsets in the opening two rounds.

Murphy is targeting his second Crucible triumph, after carrying off the trophy as a qualifier in 2005, while Trump is eyeing a second final following the disappointment of his defeat to John Higgins two years ago.

It promises to be a high-quality last-eight match, but there could be added spice after Murphy floated the suggestion that Trump may have started to develop a degree of entitlement that backfired on him.

When asked about Trump’s early-round defeats at the UK Championship and Masters this season, Murphy said: “When you go around not predicting you’re going to win but having that air about you that you’re definitely going to win, and it’s just a matter of you turning up, I think it sometimes can put a little bit of undue pressure on yourself.

“I’m sure he would probably admit that has happened over the last few years. But he has had massive success. He’s ripped through the field on a lot of occasions.”

Trump countered: “Shaun doesn’t know me so he wouldn’t know what I do. I just go in with the same attitude to every tournament, and at every one I’m fully prepared to win.

“A couple of times this season it’s been a struggle really to get up for it, but at this World Championship I’m fully prepared and coming in as well as anyone.”