Stephen Hendry's hopes of Malta Cup success were ended yesterday by Ali Carter who reached his first major semi-final in eight years.
Carter scored a 5-4 victory at the Hilton Conference Centre in Portomaso to book a last four berth in a ranking event for the second time in his career and the first since the 1999 Grand Prix.
Hendry was considered favourite for the quarter-final tie having shown superb form in his first two matches. But his preparation was dealt a serious blow when he contracted gastroentiritis.
"I went to a nearby Indian restaurant last night and had some chicken and prawns, which wasn't very nice," explained the world no. 1. "I didn't get much sleep and felt very sick.
"There were times this morning when I didn't think I'd be able to play. I saw a doctor at 9 a.m. and again at 2 p.m., he gave me an injection which made me feel better.
"I was ok during the match when I was at the table, but didn't feel great when I was sitting in my chair. It was a difficult match to play.
"But I don't want to use it as an excuse - I was playing well enough to win four frames and could easily have won, but didn't play well in the other five. Ali played a much better final frame than me."
The Scot, who won his 36th and last ranking title here two years ago, made a positive start by winning the first two frames on the colours.
World no. 15 Carter hit back to take the next two with runs of 62 and 42, then made a superb 59 clearance to win the next after Hendry had missed a red with the rest at 53-1.
The seven-times world champion won the next two with a top run of 64 for 4-3 then Carter rolled in a 54 to force the decider.
The Essex man was first among the balls with a handy 42 before missing a blue off its spot. Hendry's counter-attack ended prematurely on 15 with a red along the top cushion which refused to drop, and Carter added 30 to seal his progress.
"It's been a long time coming, I have lost a lot of close quarter-finals, so I'm delighted to be in the semis this time," said the 27-year-old.
"I was aware that Stephen was ill but sometimes a wounded animal is more dangerous. A bad Stephen Hendry is still hard to beat. When he fluked a red and made 64 to go 4-3 up I didn't think it was my day, but I dug in and showed a lot of character."
Carter will now face Shaun Murphy, who saw off Graeme Dott 5-2 in a battle of the last two world champions.
Dott made a 54 clearance to take the opening frame and went 2-0 up in a scrappy second.
But Rotherham's Murphy has been something of a comeback-specialist this week, having recovered from 4-2 down to beat Ricky Walden and 4-3 down against Stephen Lee.
He stepped up a gear to win five frames on the spin with runs of 55, 134, 58 and 86.
Doherty eliminated
Peter Ebdon ended Ken Doherty's hopes of retaining the Malta Cup after beating the defending champion 5-3.
Ebdon, the UK Champion, looked set for a disappointing night when trailing the Dubliner 3-1 at the interval. However, the English player lifted his game at the restart, winning four consecutive frames to set up a semi-final clash with Ryan Day.
Day secured himself a place in a semi-final of a ranking event with an impressive 5-1 victory over Mark King.
"Every time Mark made a mistake I stepped in and made a big break. That always boosts your confidence," the Welsh player told reporters.
Results: A. Carter bt S. Hendry 5-4; S. Murphy bt G. Dott 5-2; R. Day bt M. King 5-1; P. Ebdon bt K. Doherty 5-3.
Today's semi-finals: 3 p.m. A. Carter vs S. Murphy; 8 p.m. R. Day vs P. Ebdon.