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Published 22/02/2024 at 18:29 GMT
Mark Allen took his time, but he finally overcame Gary Wilson 6-4 in a marathon quarter-final of the Players Championship in Telford. The Pistol, the 2016 champion, advances into the last four, where he will face Ali Carter, who defeated Judd Trump, the No. 1 seed, on Wednesday. Stream top snooker action live on discovery+, the Eurosport app and at eurosport.com.
Allen ‘getting more consistent’ having made ‘massive adjustment’ to style, says McManus
Mark Allen booked his spot in the semi-finals of the Players Championship with a 6-4 victory over Gary Wilson.
The Northern Irishman beat Mark Williams in the first round and continued his fine run set up a last-four meeting with Ali Carter, who got the better of Judd Trump on Wednesday at the Telford International Centre.
Wilson, Sunday’s Welsh Open winner, was bidding for a second successive title but was punished heavily for his mistakes by the world No. 3 in the best-of-11 encounter.
Breaks of 84 and 63 saw Allen move quickly into a 2-0 lead but it could have been different had Wilson taken his chances.
A missed black off the spot in the first frame opened the door for Allen before the Welsh Open champion broke down on 38 in the next.
The theme looked set to continue in the third frame when Wilson missed a black on 23 but this time, he was let off the hook and eventually halved his deficit.
Allen restored his two-frame cushion, going in at the mid-session interval with a break of 75.
‘Never expected another one to come along so soon’ – Wilson delighted to add Welsh Open to CV
Wilson won a scrappy frame after the break and then pinched the sixth with a clearance of 76 to draw level at 3-3.
Allen got back among the balls in the next and produced a brilliant break of 49 with the balls lying awkwardly to move ahead once again.
The eight frame was firmly in the balance as both players missed routine shots, and the momentum kept swinging with both players threatening to build a lead.
It was Allen, however, who snuck it, with Wilson missing the final red, leaving Allen the remaining colours to open up a 5-3 advantage.
The ninth was a lengthy affair that included the shot of the match from Allen – a brilliant long red into the bottom left – and a spectacular fluke from Wilson, with his red missing the bottom-right pocket by a distance, but cannoning back off the cushion, colliding with the blue and green to nestle into the top pocket instead.
‘Beautifully floated in!’ – Allen finds pocket with stunning shot
But the luck was with Wilson, as Allen missed the match-ball black, leaving it in the jaws for Wilson to put it away and finally take the frame, forcing a 10th.
The 10th frame started tentatively, with no pot for the first eight minutes, but an excellent Allen safety put him in position to forget about the previous match-ball black, and march on to victory.
He duly did so with a blue sandwiched between two reds, fuelling a run of 69, leaving Wilson needing five snookers.
The Tyneside Terror found the first, but Allen showed his quality to get the job done and progress to the semi-finals.
Stream top snooker action live on discovery+, the Eurosport app and at eurosport.com
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