UK Championship snooker: Ali Carter beats Mark Joyce to make quarter finals in York
Ali Carter and Matthew Stevens both booked their places in the quarter-finals of the UK Championship in York.
Last Updated: 05/12/12 12:32am
The two-time World Championship runner-up was a 6-2 winner against Walsall man Joyce, the world number 50 who caused a Sunday evening sensation in York by coming from 5-2 behind to sink title favourite Trump.
Carter surged to a 4-0 interval lead, helped by breaks of 46, 58 and 73, and despite Joyce pulling two frames back to 4-2 there was no full-scale comeback this time.
In Tuesday afternoon's other match, Matthew Stevens survived a few late scares to see off Hong Kong's Marco Fu 6-4.
Stevens will face John Higgins or Mark Davis in the last eight, while Carter takes on Stuart Bingham, who beat 2004 champion Stephen Maguire 6-4.
In a battle of former world champions, Shaun Murphy eased past Graeme Dott 6-2 to set up a clash with Mark King or Belgian teenager Luca Brecel.
A relieved Carter, who suffers from Crohn's disease which causes inflammation of the bowel, said: "It was a dream start for me but we saw what happened with Mark and Judd in the first round. I wasn't going to let that happen to me.
"I didn't play great but I'm in the quarter-finals and maybe there's a bit left in there."
Essex man Carter, 33, had been relishing what looked a likely clash with Trump, a player he beat in a thrilling Crucible tussle last season.
"Everyone was saying, 'Oh you've got Judd in the second round', and I was looking forward to it," Carter added, "but I'll take Mark Joyce and in many ways it was as tough a match as Judd, because the expectation totally changed."
Joining Carter in the last eight this afternoon was Matthew Stevens, the Welshman a 6-4 winner in a gruelling match against Hong Kong's Marco Fu.
Stevens, 35, won the UK title in 2003 but had not reached the quarter-final stage again until now. He will face John Higgins or Mark Davis next.
He said of today's hard-fought exchange with Fu: "It wasn't the best match in the world. I'll have to play a lot better than that if I'm to go any further.
"It's hard to enjoy a match when you're making breaks of eight and playing safe all the time. But the last two frames from 4-4 were good. I'm in it so I can still win it."