Carter and Fu edge through

Carter: Edged final-frame thriller against Williams

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Marco Fu and Ali Carter will meet in the last four of the UK Championships after both came through tough quarter-finals on Wednesday.

Fu edged out Joe Perry 9-7 after the pair had been locked together at four frames apiece going into the evening session.

Englishman Carter was forced to work even harder to reach the semi-finals of the tournament for the first time, getting the better of Mark Williams 9-8.

The 29-year-old from Colchester, who had lost the opening three frames in the afternoon, held his nerve in a dramatic decider.

Simple red

It could have been a different result had Williams, bidding for his first ranking title since 2006, not missed a simple red in the 17th and deciding frame.

Having seen Carter foul on the pink to move 29-0 ahead, the Welshman looked to be on his way through with the balls well spread.

However, he got a bad contact and saw the easy red bounce out of a middle pocket, allowing Carter to step in. He wrapped up the game with a nerveless clearance.

Next up will be a showdown with Fu, who knocked Perry out of the event for the second year in succession.

Evening run

The 30-year-old from Hong Kong was forced to work much harder than his comfortable 9-2 victory in 2007, though, a two-frame run at the start of the second session proving crucial.

Although Perry replied with a break of 98 - the highest of the match - Fu took the next two to move into an 8-5 advantage.

He was forced to wait to get across the finishing line, losing frames 14 and 15 before a run of 81 saw him progress through to the next round.

Stephen McGuire meets John Higgins while Shaun Murphy faces Stephen Lee in the other two quarter-finals, both of which will be played on Thursday.