A comfortable 5-2 victory against the Australian was a clear indicator that Carter is on course to reach the tournament’s latter stages. However, he will now play another of the sport’s in-form players in the quarter-finals – the conqueror of Stephen Hendry – Ryan Day.

Carter’s match against Robertson was far from the classic many had anticipated before the first shot of the evening session, but the 30-year-old displayed the type of ruthlessness which champions are renowned for producing when it matters most.

A superb break of 115 at a pivotal time in the match put the 2009 Welsh Open winner firmly on course for a place in the last eight; and when Robertson missed a green in the seventh frame with the score at 46-35, Carter duly obliged in putting an end to the game by potting a final black.

Robertson, who won this rankings event in 2007, had been outclassed by a man on a mission to become the first player to win consecutive Welsh Open titles since Ronnie O’Sullivan in 2004 and ’05.

Meanwhile, the unfancied Day triumphed against Hendry in the last 16 to seal a quarter-final berth. Competing in his homeland, Day was largely written off because of his poor record against the Scottish legend – four defeats in as many matches for the Welshman – however, he sealed a brilliant 5-3 victory to send home a delighted crowd away from the Newport Centre.

The last of the first-round matches were also decided last night, with the second round set to be concluded by this evening.

Ding Junhui became yet another big-name Chinese casualty in the opening rounds of this competition – meaning that not one player from the country will feature in the tournament’s second round. The world No. 13 was beaten 5-3 by Jamie Cope despite some impressive breaks of his own – including a 127.

Cope will no doubt be buoyed by yesterday’s victory, but he will need to see off the challenge of the world’s best player this afternoon if he’s to reach the last eight. Not an easy task by any stretch of the imagination and one which is extremely difficult to envisage him passing.

There were also first round wins for Welshman Mark Williams and 32-year-old Scot Graeme Dott, who has set up an intriguing last 16 match against his compatriot John Higgins.

The reigning champion of the Championship League, Judd Trump, couldn’t quite put enough pressure on the winner of this month’s prestigious Masters tournament, Mark Selby. Trump, who advanced to the winner’s group of this year’s Championship League just last week, lost 5-2 to the Jester from Leicester. Perhaps this tournament came slightly too earlier for the 20-year-old but there’s no doubt he will be a major threat in this rankings event and others like it in the forthcoming years.

The remaining six matches of the quarter-finals will be contested today over two separate sessions. The first one will begin at 1pm and will feature a wealth of snooker talent including Stephen Maguire, Matthew Stephens and the Rocket himself.

Into the evening session, and Andrew Higginson and Mark Williams will go head-to-head, as will Mark Selby and Mark King before the much-anticipated battle of the Scots – Dott v Higgins.

So, the rankings event is hotting up nicely with four days left to play. Is anyone capable of stopping Carter in his tracks in this competition?

Rob Swan

Hosted in Newport, south-east Wales, the 2010 Welsh Open gets underway on Monday and will finish the following Sunday. The winner of the rankings tournament will receive a cheque for £35,000 – still a decent sum of money, but well behind the £250,000 given to the winner of the World Championships.

Before 1992, the event was a prestigious amateur one and designed for Welsh players only; but its popularity ensured interest from the rankings circuit in the early 1990s, and since then the tournament has flourished into one of the most exciting of the season.

The event’s home is the Newport Centre; however, it has been played away from the 2,000 capacity venue in the past. The Welsh Open was known as the Regal Welsh Open until 2003 but then lost its main sponsor. Between 1999 and 2003, the event was played at the Cardiff International Arena, before a year at the Welsh Institute of Sport in Cardiff in 2004.

But the Welsh Open was brought back to its spiritual home in 2005, where it has remained ever since.

Ali Carter is the reigning champion after beating Joe Swail 9-5 at the Newport Centre last February. It was the 30-year-old’s first rankings title and he secured it in thrilling fashion after coming back from 5-2 down to win 9-5. And 12 months earlier, the current Masters champion, Selby, recorded his first world-ranking title with a brilliant comeback against the Rocket in the tournament’s final – now, where have we heard that one before?

Meanwhile, Stephen Hendry is the only player to have three Welsh Open titles to his name. The Scot sealed his third title in 2003, having won the inaugural event eleven years earlier and his second in 1997.

The likes of Ronnie O’Sullivan, Steve Davis, Mark Williams and the late Paul Hunter trail just behind on two titles – a clear indicator of how highly the top players regard the rankings event.

Unlike the Masters, the Welsh Open starts with 32 competitors in the first round – all of whom have qualified for the tournament via the Welsh Open qualifiers, which have been played all this week, apart from the reigning champion Carter, who qualified by default.

Most of the sport’s big guns have now qualified and are poised to find out who they’ll be facing in the last 32. Hendry, O’Sullivan, Selby, Higgins etc are all present and correct and will be among the favourites to seal the first rankings title of the decade.

But as seen in previous years, this event does have a tendency of producing one or two surprises.

Back in 2007, unranked Andrew Higginson made it all the way to the final of the tournament, scoring a quite brilliant maximum break along the way, and only just lost out to Neil Robertson in the final by a single frame.

“The week has been beyond my wildest dreams,” Higginson said after his 9-8 defeat.

Just two years later it would be Swail’s turn to revel in the limelight cast upon him by the Newport rankings tournament. Aged 39 at the time and without a rankings win to his name, he was presented with his best opportunity at last year’s Welsh Open, but eventually allowed Carter back into the match and was punished for it.

Despite the final results, these two examples offer hope to the lower-ranked players qualifying for this year’s Welsh Open that they can reach the latter stages of the event.

So soon after the high-quality Masters it’s hard to look past the top-ranked players. O’Sullivan will be out to avenge his defeat in Sunday’s final, Selby will be looking to continue his impressive recent form, while Carter will be desperate to retain his title; but there’s something special about the Newport Centre and snooker which allows those less-fancied to shine.

Once again, the action starts next Monday, and will certainly be one not to miss.

Rob Swan