Carter upsets O'Sullivan to reach second round at snooker worlds

SHEFFIELD, England, April 29 (Xinhua) -- Ali Carter scored his first victory over Ronnie O'Sullivan in 14 meetings as he beat the five-time champion 13-9 at the second round of the Snooker World Championship here on Saturday.

Carter, who led 5-3 and 9-7 in the first and second sessions, extended his lead to 11-8 in the third session. O'Sullivan claimed the next but missed a simple blue on a break of 54 and Carter cleared up, with a further 51 sufficient for victory.

The result ends O'Sullivan's hopes of becoming the first player to win six ranking titles in a single season. He also misses the chance to become the first player to earn one million pounds in prize money in a season, ending the campaign with 852,000 pounds.

The pair have previously met in two World Championship finals, with O'Sullivan lifting the title in 2008 and 2012.

"I'm not intimidated by Ronnie like other players are. I've been through harder things than that in my life, so I won't let myself down.

Carter has been fighting lung and testicular cancer, as well as Crohn's disease, since 2003.

"It's a great win. I've got the utmost respect for Ronnie and what he's done for the game. He's under huge pressure and expectation, and to beat him today is very special. I'm only in the quarter finals, the job's not done yet, so I'll go home for a day or two and come back for the next match which will be even harder."

O'Sullivan, who trailed Carter 5-3 and 9-7 in the first and second session, said: "He was the better player throughout the whole match. I battled back last night but I was second to the punch every time.

"You can't win World Championships when you're having bad spells like that. Ali is a tough competitor, he's always had that feisty character. He was strong out there and deserved his victory." Enditem