Masters 2024: Ronnie O'Sullivan fights back to defeat Ali Carter 10-7 to claim eighth title

• By Steve Sutcliffe
• ` Sport

January 14, 2024

Updated 1 hour ago

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Masters 2024: Ronnie O'Sullivan fights back to defeat Ali Carter 10-7 to claim eighth title

Venue: Alexandra Palace, London. Dates: 7th – 14th January
Coverage: Watch live on ` TV, ` iPlayer, ` Red Button and online; Live text broadcast of the final on Sunday, January 14th.

Ronnie O'Sullivan fought back to claim a record-equalling eighth Masters title with a thrilling 10-7 victory over Ali Carter at a raucous Alexandra Palace.

O'Sullivan, already the tournament's youngest winner, will also become the oldest champion of all time at 48.

He trailed 6-3 in the evening session, but then took seven of the next eight frames to secure victory.

O'Sullivan's win means he takes home the top prize of £250,000, while Carter takes home £100,000.

The world number one, who won his eighth British championship in December, had never before won consecutive Triple Crown events in the same season.

However, he now has the opportunity to emulate Steve Davis, Stephen Hendry and Mark Williams, who are the only players to have won all three in the same season, with Scot Hendry achieving the feat twice.

“I don't know how I won this tournament. I just dug deep, tried to play with a bit of freedom tonight and just tried to keep Ali honest,” O'Sullivan told ` Sport.

“If he wanted to win, he would have had to knock me off the table. I just wanted to see if he came out on top at the end and if he could cross the finish line, that was my attitude that evening.”

“Ali didn't play great tonight, he played better this afternoon and he let me off the hook tonight. He didn't take some balls that I expected and that gave me confidence. I just tried to make the best of it.”

O'Sullivan switches gears as Carter stumbles

World number 10 Carter, a 2020 finalist, had spoken of relishing the opportunity to face the man who defeated him in both their world final encounters in 2008 and 2012.

And initially he managed to confirm that, hitting breaks of 106 and 122 on Sunday afternoon as he built a 5-3 lead.

When the game began in the evening, he got off to the perfect start, with a fine cut to a long red box in the top left corner that helped him extend his advantage.

A refocused O'Sullivan, who had previously played several too-adventurous shots, responded with two half-centuries, winning the next three frames to level the game at 6-6 before the break.

After evaporating his three-frame lead in just 37 minutes, Carter delivered a magnificent return with a difficult red shot into right-center, laying the foundation for a record ninth century breakthrough of the tournament, equaling the one set by O'Sullivan in 2007 Mark surpassed 2009, with a wonderful 127.

But 40-time ranking event winner O'Sullivan took a nervous 14th frame and the decisive 15th frame after Carter agonizingly failed to execute a great shot attempt on two reds and then a pink in the left center missed.

A break of 89 put “The Rocket” on the brink of victory and he converted it when a clearly dispirited Carter missed the chance to extend the match beyond the 17th frame.

“Of course I'm disappointed that I lost. It's the final, it's all about winning. Before I drove up here I would have won the final, but I still have a lot of good things to do and I'm on the right track,” Carter said.

“Ronnie played very well, he missed a lot at the end and the crowd was excited. When you play against Ronnie, you have to play against the audience, you have to accept it. I tried my best, but it just wasn't good enough.”