Marco Fu became the first man to reach the final of this season’s UK Championship with a well-deserved victory over Ali Carter tonight…
Marco Fu 9-7 Ali Carter
Marco Fu reached the final of the UK Championship for the first time tonight with a fantastic comeback against world number seven Ali Carter having at one stage trailed 5-2.
As has been the story of the week, one of the key turning points in the match came at 5-2 when Marco was able to steal the last frame before the interval to avoid falling 6-2 behind going into the evening. Just like the Joe Perry/Ronnie O’Sullivan and the Ali Carter/Mark Williams matches earlier this week, it proved to be key as Marco rattled off five of the first six frames of the evening and found himself just one away at 8-6.
Carter kept on fighting and having made it 8-7 with an 83 break, had a good chance to take it to a decider but played a poor shot to lose position and eventually another missed red cost him dear as Fu cleared with 85.
Having reached his first UK final I believe this now puts Marco up into the top five of the provisional rankings for the first time in his career, third if Shaun Murphy loses out on Saturday. It has taken him a while but Marco is really making an impression at the very top of the game now.
Carter himself finds himself up to number three in the provisionals, but having missed out on another chance to win his first title, will be gutted at having lost from such a strong position. Hopefully he will be able to hit back in Wales where he has quite a reasonable draw…
Marco Fu 9-7 Ali Carter 43-61(37), 136(136)-0, 0-81(36,45), 4-110(45,59), 7-61(45), 104(104)-0, 46(45)-79(71), 59-50, 106(106)-32, 0-90(66), 64(64)-30, 82(78)-4, 96(75)-0, 68(54)-24, 4-83(83), 85(85)-40