ALI Carter, who five years ago was "happy to be alive" after being diagnosed with Crohn's disease, is through to his first World Championship final after overcoming Joe Perry 17-15 at the Crucible Theatre.
The 28-year-old from Tiptree will now face odds-on favourite – and his former practice partner – Ronnie O'Sullivan in the best of 33 frames final today and tomorrow.
Carter, who now has the illness under control, is currently training to be a comm
ercial pilot so that one day he can swap 147s for 747s when he retires from snooker.
But for now all his thoughts are on his first ranking final after a gripping encounter with fellow outsider Perry, who led for much of the third and fourth sessions but was eventually overtaken in the final straight via a three-frame burst.
It was a tribute to both players that there was no sense of anti- climax after the superb display by O'Sullivan in demolishing Stephen Hendry 17-6 in the other semi-final.
There were four centuries and 19 other breaks over 50 in a high-quality game between two players doing themselves justice in what was for both of them the biggest match of their careers.
Cambridgeshire potter Perry, 33, will have to console himself with the £52,000 losing semi-finalist prize but Carter will now battle for the £250,000 up for grabs for the 2008 888.com World Championship winner.
But to achieve that he will have to overcome O'Sullivan for the first time after losing the previous eight encounters.
O'Sullivan who had the bonus of a day off to recharge his batteries after triumphing with a session to spare against Hendry.
Hendry admitted: "It was outstanding snooker. I thought he played fantastic. It was the best I've ever played against. He is the best player in the world now by a country mile."
The full article contains 324 words and appears in Scotland On Sunday newspaper.
