'Delighted' Ali Carter reveals inspiration from Whitney Houston song after German Masters title glory

ByDan Quarrell

Updated 06/02/2023 at 08:11 GMT

Ali Carter lifted his first trophy since 2016 as he defeated Tom Ford in the final of the German Masters. Carter, who also won the event in 2013, won six frames in a row in the first session to take control of the match, and he ended up coming through to claim the title. Carter will now move back into the top 16, and he was left delighted as he reflected on his glory afterwards.

Ali Carter was left overjoyed after clinching the 2023 German Masters title on Sunday and able to reflect on being inspired by a Whitney Houston song.

The 43-year-old sealed his first ranking title in seven years as he produced a dominant display to beat Tom Ford in the showpiece match at the Tempodrom in Berlin.

Carter, whose last ranking win came at the Yushan World Open in 2016, made eight half-century breaks and one century as he won six consecutive frames in the first session to help inspire him to victory.

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Carter, who also triumphed at the German Masters back in 2013, will now move up eight places to 15th in the world rankings, and he could not have been happier with recapturing that magic after years of perseverance.

"I am delighted to be in the winners' circle again," Carter told Eurosport after securing the triumph in front of a capacity crowd of over 2,000 at the Tempodrom.

"I am really proud of the way I played. When you play the game as long as I have you think it won't happen again, but you have to keep believing.

"I put Tom under a lot of pressure. I just tried to keep the pressure on as much as I could. I have a great team behind me and I just want to say thank you."

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'This is what the whole week has been about' - Carter seals emphatic win over Ford to claim German

Carter told the World Snooker Tour: "The journey of getting through the day, all you can see is getting to 10 [frames] seeming like an absolute mile away.

"But you get to 10 by getting to one, to two, to three. I said: 'Just stay in the moment, forget 10, just break it all down into little bits, and step by step'.

"I heard Step by Step by Whitney Houston and it was quite a memorable song, and I just thought 'yeah, step by step, day by day' and I've got there."

The £80,000 top prize that Carter received will now put him into the top eight of the one-year list, which means he has qualified for the upcoming Players Championship and almost certainly confirms his attendance at the Tour Championship.

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