Fierce rivals Ronnie O’Sullivan and Ali Carter will meet for the primary time for the reason that Masters ultimate on Wednesday.

The pair will lock horns within the quarter-finals of the Tour Championship on the Manchester Central after Carter got here by means of his opening take a look at towards Barry Hawkins.

As soon as the draw for this 12 months’s occasion was made, quite a lot of eyes instantly turned to O’Sullivan’s potential date with the Captain.

The 2 Englishmen have famously not seen eye to eye, sparking an incident-packed rivalry through the years.

Their most up-to-date showdown was on the Alexandra Palace in London, once they confronted off towards each other with the Masters silverware on the road.

O’Sullivan fought his approach again from 6-3 right down to deny Carter a maiden Triple Crown title, as an alternative taking his personal profession Masters tally to a record-breaking eight.

Nonetheless, there was a disagreement between the duo within the aftermath, with Carter accusing his esteemed opponent of “disgusting” behaviour and “snotting everywhere in the ground”.

When advised this, O’Sullivan exploded with an expletive-laden rant, claiming that Carter “must kind his f****** life out”.

“I’m not going to skirt round it any extra,” O’Sullivan continued. “Tip-toeing on egg shells round somebody like that.”

“Taking part in snooker towards somebody like that could be a nightmare. He’s not a pleasant individual. It’s not a pleasant vibe he leaves across the desk.”

O’Sullivan and Carter beforehand generated headlines, after all, for his or her weird shoulder-barge incident on the 2018 World Championship.

The 13-9 success for the latter on that event represents one of many few instances Carter has gotten the higher of issues from their head-to-head.

The truth is, O’Sullivan has gained 23 out of their 26 encounters in all competitions since their first on the principle tour all the best way again on the 2001 UK Championship.

That dominance has included two glories in World Championship finals at Carter’s expense.

Will probably be fascinating to see what the ambiance between the gamers will probably be like once they meet once more on day three of this week’s Tour Championship.

Elsewhere within the quarter-finals of this season’s penultimate rating occasion, high seed Judd Trump meets Mark Williams on Thursday.

The match involving Ding Junhui and Mark Allen, and the one between Zhang Anda and Gary Wilson, will happen throughout each Wednesday and Thursday’s order of play.

2024 Tour Championship Draw

Spherical of 12 (bo19)

Mark Williams (8) 10-9 Tom Ford (9)

Mark Allen (5) 10-7 John Higgins (12)

Gary Wilson (6) 10-8 Mark Selby (11)

Barry Hawkins (7) 8-10 Ali Carter (10)

Quarter-Finals (bo19)

Matches to be performed on April third and 4th.
Occasions in UTC.

Judd Trump (1) vs Mark Williams (8)
Thurs, 1pm and 7pm

Ding Junhui (4) vs Mark Allen (5)
Wed, 7pm and Thurs, 7pm

Zhang Anda (3) vs Gary Wilson (6)
Wed, 1pm and Thurs, 1pm

Ronnie O’Sullivan (2) 7-1 Ali Carter (10)
Wed, 7pm

Semi-Finals (bo19)

Matches to be performed on April fifth and sixth.
Occasions in UTC.

TBC vs TBC
Sat, 1pm and 7pm

TBC vs TBC
Fri, 1pm and 7pm

Remaining (bo19)

Match to be performed on April seventh.
Occasions in UTC.

TBC vs TBC
Solar, 1pm and 7pm

Featured photograph credit score: WST