Mark Selby eases into last eight of Masters with victory over Ali Carter
Selby proved a class apart as he raced into a 4-0 lead and proceeded to wrap up a commanding win.
Mark Selby fired two centuries as he stormed into the quarter-finals of the Masters with a 6-1 win over Ali Carter at Alexandra Palace.
Selby, a three-time former winner who last reached the final in 2014, proved a class apart as he raced into a 4-0 lead and proceeded to wrap up a commanding win.
“Overall, I can’t complain,” said Selby. “You’re only human and you can easily come out here and collapse with this crowd, because there’s a lot of pressure out here.
“I played in the Championship League last week and I felt like I was hitting the ball quite well, and it’s nice to carry that on and take it into a tournament as big as this.”
Selby opened with a break of 62 and increased his lead by clawing out the second frame after a mistake on the green by Carter cost him dearly.
Selby followed up with breaks of 108 and 93 and after Carter had finally got on the board in the fifth frame, Selby responded with his second century and a 53 clearance to complete his impressive win.
In the afternoon session, Ding Junhui rode his luck to win the last two frames and edge past Mark Williams 6-5.
Ding, who won the tournament in 2011, was fortunate to survive some missed chances towards the end of the match before coolly-taken breaks of 76 and 90 saw him home.
Ding admitted: “At 5-4 down, I missed a long red and the balls went everywhere, and I thought maybe today is done.
“Then I saw a bit of luck (because) Mark didn’t have an easy one. It was the same in the last frame. My concentration and confidence was good after the interval.”
Williams, a two-time winner of the tournament, missed a chance to take an early lead when he miscued in a promising position in the third frame, but took the next two to nudge 3-2 in front.
Two breaks of 60 turned the tie in Ding’s favour before the Welshman served notice of his intention with a superb 136 clearance in the eighth frame to haul himself level.
Williams pinched the ninth to move one frame from victory, but when Ding was not punished for missing two difficult reds, it proved to be enough to send the Chinese player into a last-eight clash with either Judd Trump or Barry Hawkins.
Williams, who turns 50 in two months, bemoaned his ill fortune, saying: “Ding had a hell of a run of the ball, especially in the last two frames when he could have left me in.
“I lost count of the number of times he held his hand up to say ‘sorry’. Those are the fine margins. I have had plenty of run in my time, that’s the game.”
