James Galloway
Senior Sports activities Journalist
Ronnie O’Sullivan turns 3-6 deficit into 10-7 victory towards Ali Carter at Alexandra Palace to win the Masters for the primary time since 2017; O’Sullivan units up a primary shot in his profession at clear sweep of this season’s Triple Crown occasions at World Championship in April
Final Up to date: 14/01/24 11:15pm
Ronnie O’Sullivan has gained back-to-back Triple Crown occasions in the identical season for the primary time
Ronnie O’Sullivan fought again to defeat Ali Carter and declare a record-extending eighth Masters title to turn into the historic match’s oldest winner, having already been its youngest, in a closely-fought ultimate at Alexandra Palace on Sunday.
The ‘Rocket’ trailed Carter 3-6 after the primary body of the deciding night session however upped his sport when it mattered most to win seven of the ultimate eight frames and safe a 10-7 triumph to say the Paul Hunter Trophy for the primary time since 2017.
As with the UK Championship, which he gained for an eighth time in December, the 48-year-old O’Sullivan is now the oldest and youngest winner of the Masters match.
Ali Carter has now suffered three defeats to O’Sullivan within the finals of Triple Crown occasions
His newest triumph comes 29 years after his first in 1995, when he was 19.
“I don’t know how I’ve won this tournament, to be honest with you,” O’Sullivan instructed the BBC.
“I’ve just dug deep. I’ve tried to play with a bit of freedom and then tonight I just thought try to keep Ali honest and if he’s going to win it he’s going to have to scrape me off the table.
“I simply needed to see if he had it on the finish.”
O’Sullivan won three frames to level the match at 6-6 in the space of just 37 minutes
Significantly, the victory also means O’Sullivan has won the first two Triple Crown events of the season for the first time, with the World Championship to come from April 20.
Only Steve Davis (1987-88), Stephen Hendry (1994-95, 1995-96) and Mark Williams (2002-03) have won all three Triple Crown events in the same campaign.
Tied on seven world titles with Hendry since 2022, O’Sullivan also has a second chance to set a new outright record of eight crowns.
Carter’s early control fades as relentless Ronnie races back
For the 44-year-old Carter, the Sunday evening turnaround meant his long hoodoo in matches against countryman O’Sullivan continued.
The Englishman has now only beaten the seven-time champion once in 19 meetings, with the sequence having already included two losses in World Championship finals (2008 and 2012) before Sunday’s showpiece.
Carter recorded three century breaks in the final, including an impressive 127 in the one frame he did win in the evening session, to set a new landmark of nine centuries overall during the Masters tournament, one more than O’Sullivan’s previous record.
But that impressive feat will likely prove scant immediate comfort as Carter’s wait for a first win in a Triple Crown tournament continues, four years after he also surrendered a mid-match lead in the final at Allly Pally against Stuart Bingham.
Having already crushed three former world and Masters champions in his matches on the best way to the ultimate – together with defending title holder Judd Trump within the quarters – Carter regarded assured from the off towards O’Sullivan.
Though his opponent gained the opening body, Carter struck his first century break (106) within the second after which went 2-1 up. O’Sullivan levelled issues up once more within the fourth body with a century of his personal (125) however then Carter gained three of the subsequent 4 frames to finish the session 5-3 up.
That turned 6-3 in the beginning of the night’s motion however O’Sullivan then took simply 37 minutes to reel off the subsequent three frames and draw the match again stage. And though Carter impressively hit again with a break of 127 to nostril forward once more, he couldn’t maintain that kind even when his opponent made errors and gave him probabilities to return to the desk.
