Ali Carter became the third player to reach the Championship League Winners’ Group with a 3-1 victory over Mark Davis in the Group Three final on Tuesday evening.
Carter, who lost a deciding frame in the tournament final to Martin Gould two years ago, battled back from one frame down with the help of a 129 break in the second frame to earn the victory, bagging a place in February’s lucrative final group.
“It was a tough group but I really started to find my game towards the end in the semi-finals and the final,” said Carter. “I didn’t have a good first day but I played myself into it and I am delighted to get through to the Winners’ Group.
“I really enjoy this event and it would be nice to win and get myself into the Champion of Champions again as well.”
The Essex man had seen off Stuart Bingham in convincing fashion in the semi-finals, with a 110 break the highlight in a 3-0 win. Davis beat Day, who topped the round robin group table, in his semi-final.
Peter Ebdon came fifth so returns in group four along with Davis, Day and Bingham. They will be joined by Matthew Stevens, Michael White and David Gilbert. Marco Fu and defending champion Judd Trump have been eliminated.
The Championship League Snooker event is a venture between Matchroom Sport and Perform where 25 of the game’s elite players compete with all matches broadcast on a host of betting websites.
Each group features seven players with each man playing the other six once in a round-robin basis. Every match is the best of five and the winner gains one point with the loser getting zero.
At the end of the league phase the top four advances to that group’s semi-finals where the two winners meet in the final and the winner advances to the Winners’ Group in February.
The losing finalist, two losing semi-finalists and player finishing fifth move into the next group where they are joined by three new players and the process is repeated.
The winner then goes through to the final group on February 11th and 12th where the big money is up for grabs. The two bottom players are eliminated from the competition, while the remaining four move forward to Group Four.
Live scoring can be found at www.worldsnooker.com
The Final
Mark Davis 1-3 Ali Carter
68-37 (Davis 52), 0-129 (Carter 129), 16-87 (Carter 32, 55), 0-72
Semi-Finals
Ryan Day 1-3 Mark Davis
68-69 (Day 52), 57-15 (56), 39-58 (52), 35-79 (Day 34, Davis 35, 39)
Stuart Bingham 0-3 Ali Carter
1-102 (38, 64), 5-110 (110) 0-75 (46)
Watch Live at Matchroom.Live
sign up now