Carter Powers Through to Semi-finals

Allister Carter has booked a place in the semi-finals of the world snooker championship after securing a 13-9 victory over Peter Ebdon at the Crucible. Carter, who held a 9-7 overnight lead after hitting a historic maximum break yesterday, will face either Stephen Maguire or Joe Perry in the last four.

The 28-year-old was in clinical mood as he reeled off four straight frames to wrap up victory.

In the morning's other quarter-final, Ronnie O'Sullivan produced a fluent display to move from 4-4 into an 11-5 lead against the Chinese qualifier Liang Wenbo.

Liang finally stopped the rot after losing seven frames in a row - including the final frame of the previous session - with a break of 41, but O'Sullivan quickly wrapped up the final frame of the session. He now requires only two frames from a possible nine this evening to advance to the last four.