Carter reaches semi-final

Snooker's new maximum man Ali Carter yesterday reached the semi-finals of the World Championship for the first time with a 13-9 defeat of Peter Ebdon.

Carter enjoyed the greatest moment of his snooker career on Tuesday night when he made his first 147 break in professional competition, which has put him in line for a £78,500 bonus.

And the week got even better for the 28-year-old from Tiptree as he completed a fine victory over former champion Ebdon to earn his place in the last four of snooker's biggest event.

A year ago, Carter went down 13-12 to Mark Selby in the quarter-finals, but this time he was not to be denied the chance to compete on the one-table set up. He is the only member of the top 16 never to appear in a ranking final, but will aim to remove that unwanted tag when he faces Stephen Maguire or Joe Perry over 33 frames between today and Saturday.

He was tied at 7-7 with Ebdon when he made his maximum on Tuesday and crucially added the last frame of the session to give himself a cushion going into yesterday's conclusion.

World no.7 Ebdon pulled one back with a break of 59, but Carter got the better of the next three scrappy frames to make it 12-8. Ebdon won one more, but Carter had no real difficulty crossing the finish line as runs of 39 and 31 saw him home.

Quarter-finals: Carter bt Ebdon 13-9; Hendry bt Day 13-7; O'Sullivan bt Wenbo 13-7.