Snooker: Ali Carter, who five years ago was "happy to be alive" after being diagnosed with Crohn's disease, is through to his first World Championship final after overcoming Joe Perry 17-15 at the Crucible Theatre.
The 28-year-old from Tiptree will now face odds-on favourite -
and his former practice partner - Ronnie O'Sullivan in the best of
33 frames final today and
Monday.
Carter, who now has the illness under control, is currently
training to be a commercial pilot so that one day he can swap 147s
for 747s when he retires from
snooker.
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 Stephen Hendry 17-6 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 losing semi-finalist prize but Carter will now battle for the £250,000 up for grabs for the 2008 888.com World Championship winner.
But to achieve that he will have to overcome O'Sullivan for the first time after losing the previous eight encounters.
Perry, whose only final appearance during his professional
career came in the
2001 European Open in Malta, was first to strike during the
evening session with runs of 57 and 38 securing him the opening
frame.
Carter's reply was impressive and, although he broke down on 63 with five reds remaining, it did not prove costly and another 44 brought him level.
Carter was first amongst the balls in the next with a 50 and was
disappointed
to miss a straightforward brown into the middle.
But it needed an outrageous fluked red from Perry to set him on the way to a break of 62 which enabled him to pinch the frame.
Carter put that disappointment behind him and a 46 helped him to square the match all square at the mid-session interval.
Perry went back ahead with his second century of the match - 110 in frame 29. But Carter kept battling away and hauled himself level again with a 77.
Carter nosed ahead in the next despite breaking down on 44 with another run of 23 helping him to go in front for the first time since he had led 9-8.
The nerves started to show in frame 32 with both players missing easy chances on the final red before Carter cleared up.
Carter had a 9-7 overnight advantage but in the morning session amassed just 24 points before the mid-session interval as a see-saw clash took another turn in fortunes with Perry winning all four frames.
Carter responded by winning three of the final four games of the morning to level the match again at 12-12 going into the final session.
Awaiting the winner in the final is O'Sullivan who had the bonus of a day off to recharge his batteries after triumphing with a session to spare against Hendry.
Hendry believes either Carter or Perry will come off second best if the Rocket produces a similar standard of play in the best of 35 frame final.
He said: "It was outstanding snooker. I thought he played fantastic. It was the best I've ever played against. He is the best player in the world now by a country mile."