Ali Carter battles past Judd Trump to set up Robert Milkins quarter-final clash at Players Championship 2023

Ali Carter sprung a big surprise at the Players Championship by beating Judd Trump 6-5 to reach the quarter-finals.

A tight match saw neither player ahead by more than one frame and it was ultimately Carter who came out on top after a remarkable deciding frame.

He will play Robert Milkins in the first quarter-final on Wednesday night, after the newly crowned Welsh Open champion also won on a decider against Tom Ford.

A 91 break put Carter ahead early on, before Trump won a scrappy second frame to make it 1-1. It looked like Trump had finally found his rhythm when two scoring visits saw him take the lead at 2-1, but a key moment in the match came in frame four.

Trump was 58-16 ahead with 43 remaining. Carter drilled a long red in and got to within 16 points, then the Masters champion went in-off, Carter fluked the green and laid a snooker which Trump missed twice.

Carter knocked in the brown with a stunning shot into the bottom right corner and potted the rest of the colours to steal the frame.

He then made a century after the mid-session interval to go 3-2 in front, but Trump hit back with a 57 to make it all square again.

Frame seven came down to the final four colours with Trump 44-43 ahead. He potted a great long brown but still needed the blue and pink.

An incredible moment saw Carter fluke a snooker when the cue ball hit the black half ball, only to go right in behind it, with the blue up the table.

Trump missed once, but hit the blue the next time and then had some fortune of his own when he accidentally doubled the blue in.

A few shots later and the 36-minute frame was finally over when a relieved Trump slotted home the pink.

It looked like Trump was going to win the next frame, but he missed a simple yellow on 49 and was punished by Carter with two big scoring visits to make it four apiece.

Breaks of 61 and 35 put Trump within a frame of victory, however Carter got in and made a stunning 96 break to send the match to a decider.

And perhaps fitting of its importance, the concluding frame was a nervy affair, with Trump getting in but missing a red, and then Carter inching his way into the lead, but with by no means an easy table remaining.

However, it was one of the simpler reds that he tripped up on, knuckling one to the middle which let Trump back to the table, who must’ve thought he’d played his last shot.

A mini-battle then commenced for the ascendancy, involving some extraordinary exchanges as Trump tried to lay the snookers required, but in the end it was Carter who nicked the blue, and then the pink to take frame and match.

– – –