AFP
'Angelic' Carter takes on O'Sullivan in Crucible final

Sat May 3, 5:23 PM ET

SHEFFIELD, England (AFP) - Ali Carter will have the herculean task of trying to stifle red hot favourite Ronnie 'Rocket' O'Sullivan in the final of the world snooker championships after edging past Joe Perry here on Saturday.

The 28-year-old set up the clash with O'Sullivan, his former training partner, after surviving a nerve wracking semi-final 17-15 in front of an enthralled crowd at the Crucible.

This second semi-final went down to the wire, in stark contrast to the first which saw O'Sullivan crush seven times champion Stephen Hendry 17-6 - with a session to spare on Friday.

Carter and Perry were deadlocked at 12-12 going into the final evening session with Carter battling back from 15-14 to rattle off three frames in a row to secure his first appearance in the world championship final.

An emotional Carter told BBC Sport: "I was just trying to take one ball at a time - it was a really tough match, and to get over the line was extra special.

"It means everything to me. My two nans passed away in quick succession a few weeks ago and they would have loved to have seen this - but I've got two angels on my shoulders this week.

"I'm mentally tired but I'm sure Ronnie is too. I'll just keep punching and if I'm there in the final session we'll see what happens."

Five years ago Carter was "happy to be alive" after being diagnosed with Crohn's disease which he now has under control, now he faces the toughest test of his playing career.

Carter is already preparing for a life away from the snooker table as he is studying for his commercial pilot's licence so that one day he can swap 147s for 747s.

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 Hendry 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 pound losing semi-finalist prize but Carter will now battle for the 250,000 pounds up for grabs for the 2008 World Championship winner.

But to achieve that he will have to overcome O'Sullivan for the first time after losing the previous eight encounters.

And Hendry for one believes he will be hard pushed to shock O'Sullivan.

He said of his semi-final defeat: "It was outstanding snooker. I thought he (O'Sullivan) played fantastic. It was the best I've ever played against. He is the best player in the world now by a country mile."

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