Ali Carter bemoans “subdued atmosphere” following Tour Championship exit

Ali Carter admits a “subdued atmosphere” contributed to his below-par display in a crushing Quarter-Final defeat to Kyren Wilson at the Tour Championship.

Carter was convincingly beaten 10-4 by Wilson on Tuesday in front of a sparse crowd at the Bonus Arena in Hull.

The reigning German Masters champion found himself 6-2 behind at the close of play in the afternoon session, before Wilson secured four of the next six frames to seal a Semi-Final spot.

The match was played to a backdrop of empty seats at the East Yorkshire venue, which is hosting a ranking event for the first time, and Carter believes the lack of atmosphere played a part in his low-key performance.

“I was rubbish all day really,” Carter told ITV Sport. “I threw three or four frames away and you can’t afford to do that against someone of Kyren’s class.

“I just felt flat all day. It was a very subdued atmosphere, that didn’t help me really. Disappointing.

“No excuses, I was just rubbish, but I do feel drained to be honest with you. Whether that had anything to do with my performance, I don’t know.

“I’ve played a lot of snooker this season and felt drained a lot of times and played really well, so who knows?

“We just put it down to a bad day.”

Wilson took control of the match from the outset, racing into a 5-0 lead with breaks of 137, 66 and 68.

Carter rallied back in style with successive breaks of 91 and 131, but a run of 54 restored Wilson’s four-frame advantage at the interval.

Carter came out firing with a 61 break to open up the evening session, but missed chances proved fatal as Wilson made a hat-trick of half centuries to go within one of victory.

A break of 69 saw ‘The Captain’ briefly stop the rot, but Wilson was not to be denied and put the gloss on victory with a clinical break of 84.

He will now take on Ding Junhui in Friday’s opening Semi-Final.

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