ALI Carter admitted he had a lucky break during his thrilling 888.com World Championship first-round tussle with Barry Hawkins.

The Colchester-born professional won a dramatic deciding frame to go through 10-9 and tee-up a match with either Shaun Murphy or Dave Harrold.

But Carter's stroke of luck came after Hawkins recovered from 7-3 and 9-6 down to level at 9-9 - only for the match to be halted at 6.35pm.

With the evening session scheduled to begin at 7pm, the players were told they would have to come back for the decider when a table became available after the late session.