Ali Carter has joined John Higgins in the Winners Group of the 2013 Championship League after victory in the second group at Crondon Park.
Like Higgins in the opening group stage, Carter dominated proceedings over the two-day contest by winning five of his six round-robin matches to top the league.
The World Championship semi-finalist, who lost to Higgins in Tuesday’s first final, then edged Stephen Maguire 3-2 in a tight last four encounter before easily dispatching Martin Gould 3-0 to advance to the Winners Group.
Gould had beaten Neil Robertson 3-1 in the other semi-final clash but both, along with Maguire and Judd Trump, who finished in fifth place for a second successive CL event, move forward for another crack of progressing in Group 3 later in the month.
Finishing bottom of the round-robin phase were Mark Davis and Stuart Bingham, ensuring their elimination from the competition altogether.
The Championship League is a nice little money earner for the top pros with £100 per frame won as well as other bonuses on offer, and a handy opportunity to gain some valuable match practice.
The seven winners from the seven groups move on to the Winners Group where the overall champion receives an invitation to the lucrative Premier League.
Higgins and Carter’s triumphs this week are all the more interesting as the duo are due to meet in the first round of next week’s Masters at Alexandra Palace in London.
Both are clearly in good form.
