Ali Carter fight backs to book place in Players Championship final
Ali Carter plays in the Snooker finale of the German Masters
Ali Carter battled back from 4-2 down to claim a place in the final of Duelbits Players Championship with a 6-4 victory over Joe O'Connor in Wolverhampton.
O'Connor, at 37 the lowest-ranked player in the tournament who knocked out top seed Mark Allen in the last 16, threatened to pull off another shock as he moved within two frames of his second ranking final.
However, his opponent reeled off four frames in a row for a 6-4 victory and will face either Kyren Wilson or Shaun Murphy on Sunday.
The 27-year-old O'Connor made a composed clearance of 79 to go in all-square at 2-2 at the mid-session interval and a 54 made it 3-2 before O'Connor capitalised on an outrageous fluke, when he potted a red into the middle on his third attempt to escape from a snooker, with a break of 86.
Carter, who had not potted a ball for nearly 50 minutes, took a cagey seventh frame and a break of 70 earned him the next after O'Connor missed a final pink which would have set up a re-spot of the black.
With the momentum behind him Carter, who won the German Masters earlier this month, closed out the match in clinical fashion with a 79 break.
"It was a really hard match. I missed a pink in the middle to go 3-2 up and the game never forgave me from there," Carter told ITV4.
"What a great player, what a tough match competitor: I'm really pleased with the way I dug in and I had to find my best stuff at the end to come out the victor.
"I might have looked frustrated but I was still in the position when I got my chance in the last frame I took it.
"I'm delighted to be in another final. I'm playing well, I've re-invented myself as a player."
Earlier Kyren Wilson hammered Gary Wilson 6-1 to set up a semi-final meeting with Murphy on Saturday.
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