UK Snooker Championship exit for Rotherham's Ashley Carty

ASHLEY CARTY went out of the UK Championship after falling to a 6-2 defeat against world No.46 Ricky Walden in Milton Keynes. Rotherham’s

ASHLEY CARTY went out of the UK Championship after falling to a 6-2 defeat against world No.46 Ricky Walden in Milton Keynes.

Rotherham’s Carty, ranked over 50 places below the two-time semi-finalist, struggled for any real fluency as a solid performance from Walden floored him at the Marshall Arena.

Carty stunned world No.18 Ali Carter in his first round match but was unable to emulate his heroics against Walden, who reached the last four of the Triple Crown tournament in 2011 and 2013.

Walden took a scrappy first frame with 74 points before Carty, 25, levelled with 61 of his own.

The topsy-turvy session continued before the interval as the Chester player pinched the third, before a steady break of 59 from Carty restored parity at the break.

But it was one way traffic after that as Walden, a three-time ranking event winner, won three frames in a row before a final frame visit of 69 hauled him into the last 32.

The result dashed Carty’s hopes of reaching the third round of a ranking event for the first time since the European Masters, but his run at the tournament did mark the first time he’s won a match at the UK Championship.

Next up for Rotherham’s Carty is a tilt at December’s Scottish Open, the third Home Nations event of the hectic snooker season – also being held in Milton Keynes – where he will meet Maltese player Alex Borg in the first round.

Carty has entered the tournament twice and will be bidding to go further than his second round appearance in 2018, when he beat Craig Steadman before suffering a 4-0 defeat against Chinese sensation Yan Bingtao.

Watch the UK Championship LIVE on Eurosport and Eurosport app. Follow all the latest tournament news on Eurosport.co.uk

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