Ali Carter. Picture by Monique Limbos

A LATE rally from Ali Carter helped him stay in contention in his second round encounter against Mark Selby.

The Leicester man dominated the early proceedings winning five of the first six frames before Carter battled his way back into the match reducing a 5-1 deficit to 5-3.

Carter, finalist in 2008 and 2012, won the opening frame with a fine 102 clearance before Selby levelled the scores with a run of 84 in the second frame.

Selby, who scraped through to the last 16 after a final frame win over Michael White, then took the lead for the first time with a re-spotted black. Breaks of 50 and 88 then put him four frames clear at 5-1.

But Carter got back into the match winning the seventh frame before producing a century break of 110 – his second of the match – to leave him trailing by just two frames.

The match resumes for its second session on Friday morning starting at 10am.

The other table saw Dominic Dale win his first match at the Crucible in 14 years as he completed a 10-5 win over Mark Davis.

Leading 7-2 overnight, the Welshman won the first two frames to extend his lead to 9-2.

Davis brought some respectability to the final scoreline by taking the next three frames. But Dale sealed a second round tie against first round star Michael Wasley thanks to a break of 57 in the fifteenth frame.