Ronnie O'Sullivan rival could land £210k windfall despite not qualifying for tournament

Snooker star Ali Carter could take home the £210,000 jackpot at the Shanghai Masters - even though he didn't qualify for the tournament - after reaching Sunday's final.

Carter, a staunch rival of seven-time world champion Ronnie O'Sullivan, was not supposed to be playing in Shanghai after failing to qualify through his world ranking of just 17th.

But world No.10 Mark Allen withdrew from the competition due to personal reasons, which allowed Carter an opportunity to enter as an unseeded player.

Allen has stunned fans with his performances after producing a comeback win three times in a row. The first two feats were against Xiao Guodong and Mark Williams, who he beat 6-5 despite finding himself 5-2 down against both men. He had also been one frame and one big break away from exiting the tournament.

And in the semi-finals he dusted himself off from 8-6 down against Mark Selby to prevail 10-8 and book his place in the final, where he will face Kyren Wilson.

READ MORE: Kyren Wilson blows shot at snooker history as 'silly’ act leaves him with egg on his face

READ MORE: Ali Carter shows true colours with fresh comments about Ronnie O'Sullivan

Wilson had secured a 10-5 win over local favourite Zhao Xintong, handing the Cyclone his first defeat since last November after winning six frames in a row.

Carter addressed the discussion around his participation in the tournament due to Allen's withdrawal as he admitted he "shouldn't even be here" - and said his secret to success was to "just turn up and play".

"It’s just surreal, isn’t it? When you don’t take it too seriousl," he said. "I always want to win, whether I want to play someone at table tennis. But I was just out there competing.

"The secret is not to think about anything. Just turn up and play. Whatever happens, happens. Really I shouldn’t even be here now. If Mark Allen doesn’t withdraw – I hope he is okay by the way – and I’m 40 points behind to Williams at 5-2 down. I’m looking at my watch thinking, well I could get the midnight flight here. All of a sudden, I have won and I’m in the final. Happy days."

It comes days after Carter showed his class by hailing long-time rival O'Sullivan for his "unbelievable" performance against him in the World Championship earlier this year.

The pair have a storied history of falling outs, with O'Sullivan calling him a "f***ing nightmare" in 2024 and telling him to "sort his life out" in an extraordinary press conference.

But Carter but their bad blood to bed as he reflected on their entertaining encounter, saying: “When I drew Ronnie, I was like oh f***ing hell, but he was good as gold. It’s fine between me and him now, but it was the draw no one wanted, wasn’t it?

"And despite what people say, in the second half of the match he was unbelievable. I missed the boat in the first half really due to not quite being on it and then he got stronger."