Mark Allen through to 2024 Players Championship final after win over Ali Carter in semi-final

Mark Allen beat Ali Carter 6-3 on Friday night to reach the final of the Players Championship.

Allen made the opening break of the match, but he lost his way with a safety and allowed Carter to the table who then sunk a relatively straightforward long red and let Allen back onto the table at 47-33.

A fluke for Carter was enough for him to build a break with his own return to the potting briefly, but Allen was soon given the chance to clear up the colours. A superb yellow into the bottom left then set him up for a routine clearance to take the first frame.

The second frame looked to be going Carter’s way and at 62-0 up he left Allen a tough shot behind the black with no obvious shot to take on, and Carter was quickly allowed back in to level things.

Allen moved into the lead once more by hitting the first century of the match with a break of 108, but Carter struck back swiftly with a 106 in the following frame to go into the mid-session interval at 2-2.

After the restart, Allen stole in late to steal the frame 73-54 after a crucial error from Carter, as the best-of-11 edged towards its conclusion.

Carter claimed the sixth frame and Allen then produced a fluent half-century break of 73 to go back in front, having still not led by more than a frame.

However he carried his momentum in the eighth frame to move a single frame from victory as he eased to 50 by potting a black into the bottom-left, with the reds well spread, and a century more than possible. But at 65-0 he rolled the white up to the top cushion with Carter needing a long red to stay in the game, which he promptly sunk into the bottom-right, but he was unable to bridge the gap.

Some scrappy exchanges in the following frame saw Carter come to the table 24-6 behind, returning to his seat 55-24 clear but Allen was able to clear the remaining balls to win the frame and match with a black to the middle-right pocket.

Allen will play the winner of Saturday’s semi-final, between Zhang Anda and Mark Selby.