Rocket takes commanding final lead
O’Sullivan led 6-2 after the afternoon session of the best-of-35 frame encounter and shared the opening four frames when the players returned to the table.
It would have been asking a lot for ‘The Rocket’ to repeat his stunning form of the semi-final win over Stephen Hendry — a display his opponent described as “snooker perfection.”
But he did not have to fire on all cylinders as Carter was guilty of missing several decent opportunities which could have put more pressure on the two-times champion.
O’Sullivan stretched his advantage to 7-2 in the first frame of the second session with a break of 78 after Carter had failed to cut a red into the green pocket.
Carter won the next — a scrappy affair spanning nearly half an hour — but paid the penalty in frame 11 when missing a straightforward red into the black pocket.
O’Sullivan put together a run of 86 before Carter finally found some fluency in the last frame before the mid-session interval with a 76 to the final black.
There has been an air of almost inevitability about proceedings during the past fortnight with O’Sullivan totally focused and scoring heavily when amongst the balls.
Carter is experiencing his first ranking final via a 17-15 success over Joe Perry last night but he insisted he would not run out of steam.
When play got under way yesterday afternoon, Carter only had himself to blame for not winning the opening frame.
He broke down on 24 when he jumped the cue ball over a red he was attempting to pot into the black pocket.
Then after another run of 32 he was unfortunate when knocking in a blue to also send a red down.
O’Sullivan made 38 before playing safe and then a superb last long red paved the way for him to make a 30 clearance and open his account.
The next was more straightforward with O’Sullivan knocking in 39 and 88. Then Carter failed to convert a long red in the third frame and O’Sullivan needed no second invitation with a 99 break.
Carter managed to stop the pre-interval whitewash when O’Sullivan was untypically wayward with a long pot on the red and Carter made him pay with a 104 — the 62nd century of the tournament.
An excellent safety shot forced an error from Carter after the resumption and O’Sullivan took advantage with a 74.
O’Sullivan looked set to take the next but — on a break of 40 — he snookered himself on the final red and gave away 22 points before escaping, only for Carter to clear from brown to pink to reduce his arrears.
A scrappy seventh frame went O’Sullivan’s way and an opening 47 in the last frame of the session paved the way for him to stretch his advantage, which he duly did before he cleared up in the last to end the day with an 11-5 advantage.
