Allen seals place in semis with tense win over Selby

Mark Allen made a maximum 147, and later produced a stunning comeback to beat Mark Selby 6-5 and book his place in the semi-finals of the Masters.

Allen looked out of sorts early in the match, only to spark into life with his maximum in the third frame.

The 2018 champion trailed 4-1 at one stage, but Selby’s form dipped and Allen pounced to secure the win and a meeting with Ali Carter in the semi-finals on Saturday evening.

The opener was a scrappy affair spanning 27 minutes, with both players making errors. Allen trailed on the scoreboard with one red remaining on the table, but had the upper hand with Selby forced to extricate himself from snookers.

There are few better at that side of the game, and Selby kept finding a response. He eventually drew an error from Allen and he was able to pick off the points required to move in front.

Allen’s frustrations grew in the second, as he broke down on a break of 25 and passed up another chance later in the frame. Selby took advantage of the errors to mop up the colours he required to double his lead.

Allen raised the prospect of back-to-back maximums when getting up and running in the fourth, but he missed an awkward red down the cushion.

The Northern Irishman had a second chance to take the frame and go in level at the interval, but he missed with the rest and Selby punished him with a break of 82.

Allen had a 147, but Selby had a two-frame cushion at the interval.

Selby made a fluent 28 in the frame after the interval, but did not get a favourable split and missed a tough blue. Having done the hard work, Selby left an inviting table for Allen but he ran out of position and missed a tough yellow to the left middle.

It proved a costly miss as Selby, despite running out of position on a couple of occasions, picked off some good balls to open up a three-frame cushion.

Selby had a chance to pinch the sixth following an Allen break of 56, but he missed a simple blue off the spot and Allen rose from his seat to cut the gap to two frames.

The missed blue off the spot in the sixth was a surprise, the terrible safety shot at the start of the seventh from Selby was a collector’s item.

Allen did not punish the error as he saw a black wriggle in the jaws of the bottom right, but Selby left the table in frustration for a second time when missing a red by a wide margin. Two presentable openings saw him muster 17 points and prompted Neal Foulds to suggest Selby was “all over the place.”

Allen ensured the second mistake was a costly one as he picked off a break of 103 to cut the gap to one frame.

‘A bit of an artist’ – Allen makes century in frame seven of Masters quarter-final with Selby

The eighth was a war of attrition, with Allen seemingly intent on grinding Selby down as he picked off points at sporadic intervals while refusing to take any risks.

Selby had chances to make that strategy look foolish, but his potting fluency was badly lacking and Allen took a 46-minute frame to draw level at 4-4.

Allen was by far the better player – he outscored Selby 531-358 after eight frames – but he went on the defensive and refused the chance to split the pack off a blue in the ninth.

He almost paid a big price, but Selby missed a straight red from close range when looking well set, and Allen stepped in to move within one frame of victory.

‘Goodness, gracious, that is unbelievable’ – Selby misses simple red against Allen

The missed red could have broken other players, but Selby showed tremendous mettle to pick off a break of 55 in the 10th and later closed out the frame to force a decider – the eighth time the pair had gone to the final frame in best-of-11 matches.

The first chance in the decider fell to Selby, but he ran out of position when splitting the pack.

After going on the defensive for a couple of frames, Allen changed course and took on a long red to the bottom left.

It found the middle of the pocket and he made 51, but there was a twist as Allen missed a red similar to the sitter Selby passed up earlier in the contest.

Selby chipped away at Allen’s advantage and the match boiled down to a green ball on the baulk rail.

Allen flicked it out and created an angle to get up for the brown. The angle on the pot was not easy, but he found the heart of the right middle and after following up with the blue, he let out a huge sigh of relief as he booked a spot in the semi-finals of the Masters for a fourth time.

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