Ali Carter produced one of the biggest wins of his career as he proved calm under pressure to knock out tournament favourite Ronnie O’Sullivan.

Ali Carter. Picture by Monique Limbos

The five-times world champion is now out after Carter continued his domination of the match in a gripping final session to secure a memorable 13-9 victory.

It is a result that blows this year’s World Championship wide open with now the top two seeds out following Mark Selby’s shock defeat a week ago.

It is the first time Carter has beaten O’Sullivan in a major event after losing the previous 13 matches against him.

And the final session got rather heated at one stage as there appeared to be a shoulder barge between the two players followed by a rather heated exchange of words.

The defeat means O’Sullivan is forced to wait at least another year to win what would be his sixth World Championship title.

Leading 9-7 at the start of the session, Carter’s advantage was soon reduced to a single frame as O’Sullivan put the pressure firmly back on his opponent by winning the opening frame.

But Carter responded in brilliant fashion winning the next two frames – a period which saw an altercation between the two players after O’Sullivan managed to get a snooker deep into the 19th frame. Carter got up and smiled as clashed into Ronnie O’Sullivan’s shoulder as the two passed each other.

Words then followed between the two players which prompted referee Paul Collier to tell the players to get on with the game.

O’Sullivan got it back to two frames behind by winning the next frame before the mid-session interval to make it 11-9.

But a shocking miss on the blue from O’Sullivan allowed Carter to produce a brilliant clearance under pressure in frame 21 and he then dominated the next to clinch a massive win.

A delighted Carter gave several fist pumps to the crowd – a sign of what the huge win meant to him. He awaits the winner of Mark Williams vs Robert Milkins in the quarter-finals.