Captain Carter flies high
Allister Carter flew into a 7-2 lead over Jamie Cope after their first session at the Crucible.
Volcanic ash may have grounded the planes, but Allister Carter, who holds a pilot's licence, gave Jamie Cope a real dusting down as their Last 32 match got underway.
Cope promised much but delivered little during the opening session. Time after time he had chances but apart from a run of 62 in the third frame, he couldn't deliver a frame-winning contribution.
Even in the eighth frame when Cope ran in 64, he hadn't clinched the frame and Carter cleared with 49.
That success gave Carter a 7-1 lead as he capitalised on Cope's errors to make telling contributions of 55, 48, 57, 43, 41 and that 49 clearance.
In the final frame of the session it was Carter who faltered on 39 and Cope grabbed the frame with a 43 clearance.
Mark Allen rounded off a 10-4 win over Tom Ford, but not before the Leicester player had rattled in breaks of 77 and 71 to take the first two frames of the day.
That gave Allen something to think about and he responded to take the next on the colours. Ford took the next with a run of 58 but he broke down on 33 in frame fifteen and Allen closed out the match with 72.
Marco Fu ended his first session 5-4 up on Martin Gould, but it could have been a lot better for the Hong Kong Star.
Fu had cruised into a 5-2 lead, looking in silky smooth form as he stroked in breaks of 70, 36, 34, 38, 56, 39 and 112; but Gould countered with 103 and 51 to take the last two frames of the session.
