Carter made two century breaks in the first session

The world number 15 went into the second session 7-2 in front, but found his Devonian opponent in a dogged mood.

A 39 from Hicks was good enough to take the 10th and although Carter won the 11th, the world number 51 bouncedback with a 57 to make it 8-4.

However, Carter came out on top of the tactical 50-minute 13th before wrapping up the match in the following frame.

Earlier, an impressive 112 break in the third frame gave Carter a 2-1 early lead.

Hicks levelled at 2-2, but after the interval the qualifier was all at sea as he spurned a series of chances.

Carter hit breaks of 79 and 129 to ram home his advantage, and then came out on the right side of three scrappier frames for a five-frame lead.

The big turning-point of the session was Hicks's failure to take the eighth frame, missing a vital blue to let Carter in for a 6-2 lead.

Carter was delighted after beating Hicks and said he was confident of defeating seven-times winner Hendry in the next round.

"Anyone can beat anyone these days," he said. "It's not like it used to be that the top players never lost.

"Andy was a tough draw because he had qualified and had it all to play for.

Hicks added: "I had a chance to make it 3-3 but I lost the frame and was so disappointed with the way I played after that."

Ali Carter (Eng) 10-4 Andy Hicks (Eng)
76-14 (51) 17-67 (53) 112-0 (112) 28-94 79-5 (79) 135-0 (129) 77-22 71-49 79-9 15-85 78-1 1-62 (57) 67-22 59-52