Ali Carter has won the 2016 World Open by defeating fellow Englishman, Joe Perry by 10-8 despite Perry’s best efforts at mounting a comeback.
The first session saw Perry taking a 1 frame advantage over Carter, but then Carter moved up a gear to take 6 frames in a row to lead 8-3 with breaks of 80, 54, 91 61 and 70.
From here the next frame went very scrappy however Joe Perry managed to get over the line in that frame to bring the scores back to 8-4.
The next frame saw Perry make a superb 131 century break but Carter then took the next frame making it 9-5.
With everything to do, Perry then started to gain momentum as he took the next 3 frames to hold onto his hopes of winning the World Open by making the scoreline 9-8.
It looked for all the world that the match was heading for a decider as the pressure at this stage of the match was firmly back on Ali Carter but the Essex man held himself together in the next frame and put in a break of 127 to win himself the World Open 2016 trophy.
The win here at the World Open takes Ali Carter 16 places up in the world rankings to number 16. It is his first win since winning the Paul Hunter trophy last year.
After the match Carter Said;
“I’m delighted – there was so much riding on today, winning a ranking event as well as my top 16 place,” said Carter. “I have been focused all week and to come out the winner is very special. It has been a great week for me.
“Today’s match was very good. There were some big breaks and some scrappy frames as well. Joe might feel he lost the match in the first session, but then he played really well to come back at me. I knew I had to kill the match off in one visit so it was pleasing to do that in the end.
“I have been through a lot over the last couple of years so to get back into the top 16 is a huge achievement.”
With no tournaments taking place for another month, the players will be fine tuning their skills on the practice table as the season begins to lead up to some major events.
