20-1-20 masters snooker final
SNOOKER MASTERS
FINAL
Stuart Bingham shrugged off an interruption from the crowd
to sink Ali Carter and clinch the second biggest title of his career with
victory in the Masters final at Alexandra Palace.
Bingham's clash with Carter, who was a late replacement in
the tournament, was briefly delayed in the fifth frame of the afternoon session
due to noises apparently caused by a remote-controlled device which had been
planted in the audience.
But the 43-year-old recovered from losing the first four
frames of the evening session to secure the biggest win since his 2015 world
title with a 10-8 victory.
Bingham's game went to pieces at the start of the evening
session as Carter capitalised on countless errors by the world number 14 to win
four frames in a row.
After edging two scrappy openers, Bingham wasted a good
chance to get back on track in the 11th frame when he broke down on 37, and
Carter stepped in with a clearance of 90 to take the lead at 6-5.
There seemed to be no stopping Carter who followed up with a
clearance of 133 to go in at the mid-session interval three frames away from
the biggest win of his career.
But the match swung in the 13th frame when Carter missed a
straight pink to the middle, enabling Bingham to carve out a break of 64 and
stop the rot.
Bingham levelled with a break of 85, nudged ahead with a 58
which began with an audacious plant, and moved one frame from victory with a
break of 88.
Carter produced a timely response with a break of 77 to make
it 9-8,
Bingham had looked barely able to pot a ball as he
sacrificed a 5-3 advantage to fall 7-5 behind - but he hit back magnificently
and a 109 - his first century of the tournament - saw him over the line.
MY
OPINION
Neither of these players had won
the masters and there was a sense of nerves from this match but Bingham was
able to control himself when needed but no one can disrespect Carter for what
he went through. I think that this close match could have went either way. I so
wanted Carter to get it. I think Bingham has developed at a very late stage
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