Neither player has previously won a world ranking event but people within the game have been aware of both players’ potential for a few seasons now. Carter has been in the top sixteen for three years now, while Perry looks set to return to this exclusive club for next season given the ranking points he will have secured from this extended run in this tournament.

Carter in particular, I feel, has a chance in this tournament to finally make his major breakthrough. His victory over an admittedly out of sorts Shaun Murphy in the second round was sensational, in many ways he defeated the 2005 champion at his own game with some tremendous potting and dictated terms right from the off, forcing his opponent into making uncharacteristic errors.

He followed this up with a quite extraordinary win against the stoic Peter Ebdon in the quarter finals. Having seen his opponent fail in an attempt at making a 147 by missing the last red, in the very next frame Carter made history by recording the second 147 in the tournament, indeed the second in two days. It was Carter’s first ever maximum in tournament play and while O’ Sullivan’s maximum the day before would win for its fluency, Carter’s was equally impressive for his potting under pressure as he lost position several times during the break. The black he sank to complete the break showed outstanding composure on Carter’s part.

Having completed this break however, Carter had to come back the next day to complete his victory. This must have been difficult for him to achieve given the euphoria and mental highs he will have reached just the night before. It was mission accomplished though, helped by some scratchy play by Ebdon.

Carter will know that he has a big opportunity available to him and he will now be expected to beat Joe Perry. He will also know that the tournament opened up for him last season here when he beat Stephen Hendry comprehensively in the second round, only for him to crash out in the very next round. Carter clearly is suited to the longer matches but he now needs to push on and prove that he belongs with the big boys in the business end of the tournament.

He must be careful not to wear himself out or under-estimate his opponent, Joe Perry. Stephen Maguire claimed he had done just that when he lost out in the deciding frame of their quarter final and it is hard to disagree given that Maguire had played some awesome snooker in his first two matches of the tournament, including taking the first nine frames against Neil Robertson. Playing at The Crucible is very much a marathon rather than a sprint, however, and Maguire clearly did not pace himself correctly in the tournament.

Perry has played steady snooker so far and has made enough sizeable breaks to win frames in one visit or at least put the frame in his control. He is also a very tough match player who does not ask and does not give any quarter. Although I would expect him to show some signs of tiredness after his endurance test against Maguire, I also would expect him to really test Carter’s mental capacities after the euphoria of his maximum and the rare occurrence of him being the headline maker.

The first session of this match was played on Thursday evening with Perry edging into a 5-3 lead. Carter will not be too disappointed with this scoreline given that he trailed 3-0 at one stage, but he certainly will not want a repeat scoreline in the next session as Perry tends to be a strong front runner and giving him a four frame lead after two sessions would prove to be a tough deficit to claw back.

For me, the outcome of this match depends on how able Carter is to get back down from the clouds and deal with Perry’s doughty match play. Although both players are renowned break builders, they are also good tactically and so I would expect a few tight frames that could go either way. Carter needs to ensure he comes out on top in more of these frames if he is to progress.

As I said earlier, just as it was Mark Selby’s time of reckoning here twelve months ago, this should be the time that Ali Carter builds on the promise he has shown earlier in the tournament and goes on to fulfil his potential and deliver it when it really counts. For some reason though, I have doubts that his temperament will enable him to carry it through and Joe Perry, who himself realises he has an outstanding opportunity to win his first ranking tournament, I feel will show the greater determination and consistency over the distance to book his place in Sunday’s final.

Prediction: Carter 12-17 Perry