Winning Chance Lost | Ronnie O'Sullivan vs Ali Carter | 2023 International Championship QF

Back underway in frame four, Ali Carter has broken off trailing 2-1 and has left a potential red here. Oh, beautiful. As I say, his long game this week has been really encouraging. There's already quite a few reds in play here. Black on its spot. Chance to get away here early in this frame from the Carter break-off. Five, six, thirty, forty. He's had six entries in the tournament. Twenty-one, twenty-two, twenty-nine, thirty. Bigly asking for a little bit of time. Thirty-six, thirty-seven. Certainly that opening red that O'Sullivan screwed in will bring about some confidence or it might well do. Forty-two. Now if he can get a high angle on the blue, that will be the next part of the equation. Yeah, well, as he's just off straight, he'll try and power it in. One cushion. It's not the usual way to go into the bunch, but I think it's the only one that he has unless there's a plant. There's the shot. Oh, he's played it well, hasn't he? But it's just a difficult route. He might be on the left-hand red through the gap. Forty-eight. You don't always fancy getting on the red from that shot, but I think he has. Forty-nine. He keeps looking across. I'm not sure if he's... I don't think he was looking at the scores because I think he knows what's required here. He popped a lot more balls, but it's just the eyes are coming away from the match table every now and then. Fifty-five. Once again, the split has not gone ideal. The one up the table, down into the yellow pocket, hampered cueing on. He stayed down, but he wasn't entirely sure. One or two of the members of the audience seemed to think it was going to go in. Well, how significant could that be? There's plenty still on here. A couple of frames ago, Carter had a chance at a clearance. He missed the initial red. Didn't get any further. One. Got this chance again. He squandered the last opportunity. This one isn't taken either. It would be an uncomfortable few minutes as they went for the mid-session because it is a proper chance. Five. By the same token, O'Sullivan will be frustrated that he hasn't sealed this frame either. Lots of work to do. He'll need plenty. He'll need a lot from here, not just up to and including anything. Just every ball. Thirty. Twenty. A little glance of the other two reds here to bring them into play. Yeah. Twenty-one. That's a lovely shot. That's solved one potential problem that he had, getting on those two reds. What a chance. A combination of being delighted to make it two each, but also, at this stage, the pressure of not actually doing so from here. Twenty-nine. Just wondering if this could ultimately be about blue to pink. Yeah, I think you're probably right. Of course, then it becomes almost from brown to blue. If you finish straight on the blue, you haven't got a shot at all on the pink, so those few shots in a row will probably be the deciding factor in this frame. Thirty-seven. Forty-two. Forty-four. It is all about getting on that pink, but the two shots that precede it are also pieces of that jigsaw. Forty-seven. The ideal angle on the blue, just topside, a slight angle, not a very big angle, and definitely not straight. Fifty-one. He's undoubtedly gone shortish. That's good. Fifty-six. He should get this, but he did miss an absolute sitter into that pocket, a red that was easier than this. It's all come down here to the last two balls. He broke off, left a long red, which O'Sullivan knocked in. It was going well. Took on a difficult red on 60, and the question was, could Ali Carter make the clearance? And there's the answer. Big moment in the match. It looked like 3-1 O'Sullivan, and then you felt he could race off into the distance, but Carter has pegged him back. They're the sort of breaks that really make differences in big matches. 2-2 at the mid-session interval. Goodness me. Again, I'll say that I don't think he potted it cleanly, the red. An early shout for a possible stalemate here with the red in bulk. I can't see the player wanting to take an undue risk. Increasing chance of a re-rack here. One look across, catching the other one's eye, and they might be sending the balls back for a re-rack. The red up the table is the culprit, really. No one wants to take a risk and play a safety shot to bulk. Understandably. If anything, Ronnie showed a little bit of lack of patience there because it was hard to think how that was all going to unfold, and in the end he's taken a risk and he's left this chance. Tried to avoid the blank, but now that he's glanced off it onto the blue, it's not bad. Just feels like there's even more tension after the clearance he made in that fourth frame. Yeah, could have come onto the blue there, which would have perhaps given him an angle to just go into those reds. You can just feel that playing on the pink was more beneficial. And when re-spotted, does the red go past the pink? Bit of a stodgy old frame early, wasn't it, with all those tips tipping up into the red and not really looking like the frame was going anywhere. I think Ronnie just lost the patience first to continue, understandably, really. Thought perhaps there could have been a re-rack in this frame, but ultimately Ali Carter has taken his chance when it's come. But he's only a few in front still. It's a good shot, he's on that middle red. Goodness, to the left corner. He couldn't hardly have put the cue ball in a better spot. Still isn't delighted with it, though. Yeah, he knew that he was making contact with the other red, but he wanted to just screw back through it almost. And again, up for the yellow. So the points aren't really mounting up, but he's still in control, more importantly. As Carter's starting to look really good here, highly focused as well on every shot. If he slips past that red on the pink, it was an excellent shot, but he hasn't quite achieved all of the aims there. Yes, he's on the pink. Playing that pink over the top of a red with the cue ball moving away from the red is not much fun, really. Thought he'd over-cut that, I must be honest. On the thin side of the pollen angle. Another red wanted. It'd be hard-fought, this frame. If he can take it. Well now, in the last frame, Carter made a great clearance. Can O'Sullivan return the favour? That was frame ball, but it stayed out. That was actually a very sweet piece of cueing. He stroked it in. Just the problem of getting from black to red. Just awkward cueing, though, isn't it? Even with the rest. Well, this is not a great moment for something to be not an unscheduled break at this stage. It's an important shot, this, if he can get from black to red. I think the referee mentioned something about the lighting or something there. But Ronnie was not put off by anything until he was told to stop playing. We don't like to see a player put off by a situation or distracted. He's got the part, but he's gone too far on it. Well, it's not really his sort of shot to just play the blue slowly enough to just reach the pocket. That's why he's played it the way he has. Every shot is a problem at this stage. You keep feeling he's one shot away from clearing. Not even there. This is not perfect either. I suspect if he knocks the brown in then that will be the last awkward shot. Oh, he's playing yellow instead. This is as significant, if not more so than the last round that Carter stole. Well, what an intriguing contest it's turning into. This clearance has not been straightforward, but you feel it is now with the last three balls on their spots. It felt like the elements were against him. There was a brief break in play. Every red he got on was difficult, but he's kept the break alive somehow. Another big clearance in this match. This time made by Ronnie O'Sullivan. Ali Carter missed frame ball to lead 3-2. As a player, you always think it's very informative of what it looks like on the other end of the table when you've got an awkward safety shot looking for a thin edge or anything to get you back to bulk. It's not always an easy route. He's just trying to drop onto the red, which is pretty unusual way to play the shot and push the red itself on. I don't really understand that shot because O'Sullivan's right-handed and he might have a dart at this down the cushion. They're not the tightest, so that was an odd decision to make. They're just going in very easily. I could see it on maybe the tighter table we saw at the British Open in Cheltenham, but I think down there if you leave a ball on, the player's going to be very tempted to knock it in as O'Sullivan did there. He'll just kick his foot out as if that would help in some way, just a fraction further down beyond the red. I think the balls have run a little awkwardly in this match. We're not seeing a barrage of huge breaks as we have in other matches this week. You get days like that. There's now a good chance if he could open up a couple of frames lead. But again, just over doing the last shot fractionally on the blue. He played that well and just stroked it in. This time short of pace as you saw his head dip a little bit after he hit the ball. Yeah, I think that'll be frustrating for him because he just wasn't getting on the balls as usual again. He's turning into one of those afternoons when neither player can quite break free. Yeah, well sometimes as annoying as it will be that he's gone it off. You know, it's not actually a terrible result to be screamed on the top. It's as good as it gets at long range. Yeah, good kiss as well. Well, all day they've struggled to get the correct angle on the blue, these two. On we go then, Ali Carter with his chance here. Carter didn't play that last shot very well. He shouldn't really need the rest. He's dropping the blue in but he's recovered it. Albeit, things come at a cost. He knows that to end up going to bulk. So he's just getting out of position shot by shot again. It's just really annoying, isn't it, for both players? I'm sure the frustration is evident. They're just finishing out of position slightly and in the end you miss a putt and I didn't expect him to miss that one but it's just a build-up, I think. A lot depends on the two reds, of course. In fact, that's the key to the frame, how they're now the angle to split them but he has to bring them into play and one shot here that is successful is likely to be a frame winner. It's kind of an afternoon and nothing like that is happening. The frame lives on. Mightn't be the worst shot to end the break but it's still very much second prize. He wanted to get the frame one there. Oh dear, that's a big mistake and you heard the cue banged into the floor. 18 in front, it'll be hard to foresee him not clearing up here or getting over the line. It's not been a great frame this but it might be a very significant one. Carter had his chance. He missed a very comfortable red to left corner. So Carter just reacts on that last shot leaving the red on. He's going to be too clear at 4-2 without really flowing at all. He did make that excellent clearance in the last frame. That has made a big difference in this match. Carter at that point was definitely on top. So O'Sullivan maybe starting to make his move here. Again he had to dig in in that frame but he got the result he was looking for. He's two from the semis leading 4-2. Well that's well played. Is he on the It's looking like a match of missed opportunities for Carter. This could be an excellent chance again for O'Sullivan if he can knock this red in. A little tricky but as Dave said earlier he's not really scoring in big numbers. His break was in the frame he lost. That's the one missing piece of A lot of people I spoke to said that they thought that if O'Sullivan was going to lose to anybody this week it would be the man he's playing today. Just a little bit awkward here if he can just run through and escape. Oh dear that's really sloppy. That's very sloppy from O'Sullivan. That'll annoy him because he got down to just hit it. He was thinking about the cannon on the green and he totally ignored the pot and that's an old school thing to do. Something that everybody's done but at this point O'Sullivan could not afford to do that. Now it'll really hurt O'Sullivan if Carter goes on to win the frame here. He could screw into the two reds but the way the day's been going might not get the best result out of that shot. That's fine. That is absolutely fine so now your eyes are drawn up to where the yellow is in relation to the green and he'll need all of those so there's still work to be done I think in an ideal world here he'd play on the green and take the green up the table back onto his own spot well he's missed that so that becomes a problem for O'Sullivan to deal with now disappointed but not really showing any emotion there, Carter I think Roddy's interested in playing the green if he could the blue is an absolute natural look to get onto the yellow so he's thinking the same way I was mentioning earlier on put that green back on his own spot so the journey is shorter for position from yellow, green and brown. Great shot well thought out O'Sullivan's frame just won't go away, lingering on with mistakes continuing to be made. Really tried to go in didn't it? Hand of the referee is just trying to keep people still in the audience good shot, again no angle at all to get from green to brown that's a terrific shot really considering the mistakes we've seen and the difficulty the match was sort of petering out from his perspective so 8 in front, he will still need the pink yeah and he's not quite right on the blue taking it away from the pink but that's a nice recovery it seems I keep thinking about that shot that O'Sullivan missed that red to right middle when he was counting the green he played it a bit half heartedly to be honest Ali Carter has got himself back into contention here as I say the match looked like it was going away from him in a big way but he stepped in 4-3 he's found a wide angle on that good enough shot both players having a lot of difficulty with the route back to safety, back to the bulk end I tell you that mightn't be the worst outcome well good shot there Carter, yes it feels like things have just sort of shifted back again towards Ali Carter this time it's been hard work today but remember the game only looks easy because the players are so good, it's a hard game and there is a definite little spring in Carter's step now he was looking a bit fed up earlier but things have changed after that last frame for sure and just landing behind the two reds so it looked like O'Sullivan was going to go 5-2 up quite honestly, I mean if he was to lose this match I'm sure that shot would be the one that he'd remember, I'm not saying he will lose he's still in front well those two reds looked like there might be a plan, he won't need them of course if he can get onto the red he's quite straight on this, he could possibly force a little bit of an angle oh dear, what's he done there the cue ball's gone nowhere he could have screwed back and maybe played the plant to the point where he just needed one more red that shot he played on the pink where the cue ball would have stopped dead in the worst place of all he'll be thinking about that one especially now that he's missed oh has he, hang on a minute wow no one knew thought it might drop in actually to be honest he missed it by a mile the original putt so he lost all control of everything, he's got to get onto his colour here, it's best to take something as high value as you can be looking for more points than two I think for this red this gives him a bit of breathing space playing the pink I think he had no choice there yeah he was just walking away at the end he didn't think it would drop well what a funny old match it's turned into I mean Carter is snookered but you can just feel that he's going to swerve it round and putt it the only thing that would worry him would be if he played it that way would be to follow the cue ball in this should be gettable any contact of course is going to see it go in yeah that was never really much of a problem 45 in it, 35 on and he's seen enough well it's turned round it's turned round in a big way, O'Sullivan was looking good for 5-2, this match is anyone's it's coming in at a fairly high angle and he's hit the wrong ball hit the pink coming at a different angle this time well it's not the red he tried to hit goodness me what's going to happen next in this match there's been a number of errors that just grazed the near jaw that was not so difficult to hit well we've had all these centuries haven't we all week over a hundred here at the venue this match between two tremendous break builders we've seen nothing anywhere near a century strange old match yeah and the fact that the overwhelming response to the audience there was laughter and he must be feeling the better of the two right now because he'll certainly go 5-2 down, most players must know that there's possibly a miss from themselves just around the corner because it's been like that, no player has broke three and one frames in a single visit 16 into the bunch perhaps here, need a bit of luck no he's not playing it playing on the loose red in the middle of the pack which is fair enough to be honest I think if you go into the bunch right now you're likely to knock something in it's been that kind of afternoon, evening 22 into the reds then, well he skimmed off them, again that sort of sums up the afternoon really 29 Harry Carter, 29 doesn't go on the black spot or his own spot so onto the brown slightly unusual set of balls here where they're placed 8, now is Sullivan going to spring into life because I think he just took his foot off the pedal when he looked like he was going to really surge away it's not like him to do that he certainly did this afternoon it's not as if he wouldn't dearly love to beat Ali Carter, I'm pretty sure he would, now the problem with the six reds and just the way they're placed is going to come into play 21, now screwing into the little gap between the reds oh goodness me, I mean you see the position of the balls there I can't believe he's not finished on one, he's unlucky and you can understand the reaction as I say, I mean it's been you know, pretty bruising stuff really, the things that have gone wrong so all he could do was play safe, the last thing he wanted to do quarter to 11 in the evening here in Tianjin still quite a bit of mileage in this one you fancy he's playing the brown it's going to be a thin pot, it's not easy this, he's got to screw it I think it's a great shot, that really is he's in a really good position to capitalise on that last shot yeah he's trying to make something happen, maybe that little frustration in a way has helped him just get on the front foot again my apologies, I don't know what's happened to the score graphic, hopefully that will return well those scores aren't right, I can tell you that now because I'm not sure about the scores actually because it might have been though putting just looking back a few minutes, some of Ronnie's points seem to be going, there's been some kind of a misunderstanding we saw the frustration earlier when he didn't land on a red, he banged his cue but then he got down, he knocked in a great red now he needs this red for 5-4 so he's just found something at the right time and once again it's advantage O'Sullivan well O'Sullivan will be hoping to win 6-4 but if it ends up a decider, you wonder what sort of frame it's going to be based on the match, it's been a strange old business really but O'Sullivan since that first reaction maybe he did need that, maybe he needed to let out some emotion either way, he's won the frame just feels like there's a bit more energy about him now, but he's maybe broken free of the shackles a bit with his contribution yeah he's got something out of his system there but more importantly he's won the frame, 5-4 yeah he was staying there wondering if he's going to leave him severely hampered but he didn't then there's a sort of switch of the cue I don't think Carter was pleased with that, so many shots have just gone into positions where the next shot is tricky well they've broke up a treat this time but they're still not an easy next red good shot he will go frantically too far on the blue and nothing will go to the right corner oh dear well he misjudged that by quite a long way over screwed it the in-off didn't really ever seem like a factor in that shot I've got to be honest problem with the shot he's played there and I think he's done well just to keep things safe well because he got so close it has stayed over the pocket so O'Sullivan has some sort of chance here shot to nothing but the red has stayed over the pocket is the problem can he see the winning line because here is a real chance not a good shot to hit the blue but actually for once he's nudged it into a fairly promising position to the point where he could get him over the line as hard as he could hit that I think because it's quite an acute angle to the middle that's where you're pleased to make 50-55 or something like that which takes you very close to the winning line he can be unplayable but even if he's not playing at his best he's still hard to beat as we've seen here yeah that's true and he's not always been the most difficult to beat you know in other words you won't see a John Higgins or a Mark Selby win with their B or C game but I think he's become better at doing it just needs this pink and one more red to be the one ooh well that next shot would have definitely been the one and he's still angry even though it would take a turn around for Carter to somehow win this frame he's furious isn't he but Carter does need two snookers well that smile is masking a lot of pain someone's got to go in here there was a chance today certainly to get the win over this man which is rare as hen's teeth for Ali Carter this is one sort of big shot here in behind the black and the red round next to a bulk colour I mean it's hard but it'd be a horrid shot to hit if he got the shot right where's the red going to finish is the question that's really what we want to know well if he could have got the red just lying right next to the green or yellow this would have been a nasty position to be in for O'Sullivan you saw Ronnie sitting down there and he wasn't if you think he did one he looked quite annoyed with himself that he'd missed that previous ball it's a great effort this isn't it and it was a horrid snooker to hit but at least he hasn't left a free ball or he was never going to either where the red landed that's a really good effort the only thing he's done though is he's actually pushed that back into a position which is no good to him at all but it was a great try I think Ronnie was annoyed when he broke down there because he knows that there's once in a 50 or 100 he's going to have to pay for a mistake like that in this position his opponent will get snookers didn't want it in well this sort of sums things up really thanks a lot snooker gods well if he doesn't put his colour here I'm pretty sure there'll be a handshake because there'll be extra snookers required so well he's knocked it in every credit he's hanging on by his fingernails here five there's always a bit of a relief when you get a snooker yourself when your opponent is chasing them gives you a bit of breathing space like I say I think the conditions today might have played a part I don't know if the table is quite as responsive and as good as it was earlier on in the tournament but for the semi-finals they will redo the table recover it there it is the concession it was a tough match they both struggled for long periods there were some dramatic frames some steals plenty of drama in the end it's Ronnie O'Sullivan extends the record against Ali Carter 17 wins to 1