Dott to face Higgins

The match was a predictably tight and sometimes dour affair with neither man scoring as heavily as expected at London's Alexandra Palace.

Carter looked sharp when rolling in 56 in the opening frame. Dott responded with 36 only to miss the final red with a rest that cost him the chance to deny his opponent the lead.

Carter was left needing a snooker in the second frame. He managed to get it after a couple of fabulous shots forced Dott tight behind the yellow, but the Scotsman extinguished his opponent's hopes by sinking a long red seconds later.

Both men had opportunities to pocket the third frame with Dott missing the final blue after sinking a long brown.

Carter had squandered earlier chances to win the frame, but finally stumbled over the winning line with a lovely pot on the blue before holing pink and black for a 2-1 lead.

A 61 from Dott in the fourth frame helped the Scotsman level at 2-2 heading for the mid-session interval as it became clear both players were not entirely comfortable with their form.

Carter edged ahead by sneaking the fifth frame on the black ball after 2006 world champion Dott had broken down on a break of 45 in a frame running over 30 minutes - the longest frame of the tournament so far.

Dott was quick to restore parity in the match by making a knock of 71 in just over 12 minutes to level at 3-3.

Dott was always in control of the seventh frame despite needing to pot the final pink to move 4-3 ahead - the first time he had led in the contest.

He made it 5-3 aided by a 56 as Carter's prospects slowly began to dwindle. Carter's hopes were finally snuffed out as he could only make 23 early on in the ninth frame before a couple of modest contributions from Dott saw him into the last eight.

He faces Higgins on Thursday night aiming to emulate his win over his fellow Scotsman in the first round of last year's tournament.