A slimmed-down Mark Allen has shown he remains one of snooker’s biggest heavyweights at the British Open – and he is the red-hot favourite to lift the newly-named Clive Everton trophy on Sunday night ahead of a final clash with Ryan Day.
The 36-year-old Allen from Northern Ireland raced into the showpiece in Milton Keynes on Saturday with a 6-1 drubbing of Thailand’s Noppon Saengkham. World No14 Allen, chasing a seventh career ranking title at the Marshall Arena, shed four and a half stones over the summer.
And as well as looking a different man the former Masters champion has produced some of his best form in wins over world No2 Judd Trump, the third-ranked Mark Selby and now Saengkham. The run has put Allen into a first final since he won his home event in Belfast almost 12 months ago, and he will pocket the £100,000 first prize should he finish the job this evening against Day.
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By contrast the world No27 Day, a three-time ranking event winner, won his semi-final late on Saturday night 6-5 in a tense and low-quality battle against Merseyside’s Robbie Williams who was desperately trying to reach his first ranking major final. And he was left saying he was “embarrassed” by his display despite a big win.
Allen admitted earlier in the week that it was a grim warning from a close pal that he might not be around to walk his daughter down the aisle unless he changed his eating habits. And he also sought health, fitness and diet advice from seven-time world champion Ronnie O’Sullivan at the Crucible earlier this year.
The left-hander duly took that advice on board to become the latest big name after John Higgins and Shaun Murphy to lose over four stone for a healthier life and to help concentration on the table.
After his semi-final win, Allen said: “It was the perfect start today, I was pretty much flawless for the first four frames. Then Noppon pinched one and looked like he might pinch another – and I started to wonder if it might all go wrong.
“There is a long way to go yet to win the title, but I handled the match and the occasion well. I knew it was a big game for him too. Being the only top 16 player left in the draw does adds some extra pressure but although I am not quite at my best yet, if I play well tomorrow then I have a good chance.”
Allen, who made breaks of 69, 76, 133, 69, 56 and 64, admitted he may also have had a helping hand from referee Ben Williams in the very first frame after the official badly blundered - failing to award Saengkham a free ball which could have helped him nick it.
He said: “When I played the shot and knocked the blue in, my first instinct was it was a free ball. It could have gone from him needing three snookers to being able to win the frame. That would have been horrible. I don’t want to throw the ref under the bus but I don’t think he even checked it. I questioned him if it wasn’t, and he said no. But that could have been huge for Noppon.”
The later evening semi-final between Day and Williams just saw the two players get totally bogged down as the occasion and potential prize - both financial and in status terms - seemed to overwhelm them. Day ended up falling over the line in the decider having made a high-break in the match of just 61.
He pulled no punches in his assessment of his own performance after the contest – but also reflected that the beauty of snooker is while no one watching Saturday’s turgid fare would give him a prayer against Allen, Sunday would be another day and the form might reappear as if by magic.
Day said: “It would be the biggest win of my life if I could do it. It was a shame that tonight neither Robbie or me played well – and it was embarrassing really. I missed so many balls, it felt like I just couldn’t string a few together. Robbie made a good break to get to 1-1, and it was all downhill from there really.
“All you can do when it is like that is just stick in and fight. It was a massive game for both of us. For those not at the top of the game we are not multi-millionaires like footballers. It wasn’t my A, B, C or even D game. Right now I feel like instead of turning up to play Mark just going conceding, going home, watching the Manchester derby and having a few beers.
“But I have been doing this long enough to know that tomorrow is another day and if I find my groove I can play a lot better than I did today.”
*18+ | BeGambleAware | Odds Subject To Change
