Northern Ireland Open: O'Sullivan secures comeback win over Ali Carter to make final

Ronnie O'Sullivan recovered from a two-frame deficit to beat Ali Carter 6-3 and progress to a third consecutive Northern Ireland Open final.

Despite scoring a century in frame two of Saturday's semi-final, O'Sullivan trailed 3-1 at the mid-session interval at the Marshall Arena, Milton Keynes.

The world champion reeled off five frames to take victory, with breaks of 78, 66, 93, 102 and 59.

O'Sullivan will play Judd Trump in Sunday's best-of-17-frame final.

World number one and defending champion Trump bounced back from losing the opening frame to comfortably see off world number 67 David Grace 6-2 in his semi-final.

O'Sullivan and Trump will be meeting in the final of the Northern Ireland Open for the third year in succession, Trump having triumphed 9-7 in both the 2018 and 2019 finals, staged at the Waterfront Hall in Belfast.

"I'm just happy to be in the final. I've had a dodgy start to the season by my standards," O'Sullivan told Eurosport after his comeback win over Carter.

"Table time is important for me as I haven't practised much since the World Championship."

World Snooker has been running all of its tournaments in Milton Keynes because of the Covid-19 pandemic.

The Marshall Arena has on-site accommodation, meaning everyone involved in the tournament can be contained at the complex.