Mark Allen produced a massive performance on the big stage to knock Ronnie O’Sullivan off his Masters perch.
Now it’s time for the gutsy Northern Irishman to land the final punches and win his first ever triple crown event.
Going into this match, very few people gave Allen any chance of beating O’Sullivan on his own patch. The Rocket’s performance against Marco Fu was mesmerising and the press was already presenting him with the trophy and salivating at the prospect of him winning a third straight title at Alexandra Palace.
Allen though had very different ideas. After losing the first frame, he stormed back to win six on the spin to and close out a comfortable 6-1 victory. The key in this match appeared to be that Allen didn’t shy away from the challenge; he stood up to O’Sullivan and attacked him from the off.
This is the kind of result – and more importantly performance – which will see Allen become highly fancied to go all the way now and it won’t be before time if he were to finally get his hands on one of the sport’s major trophies.
The Antrim man has looked ready to win one of the big ones for a while now. As well as all the obvious qualities you need to have, Allen is blessed with great tenacity. He’s not afraid to battle hard and speaking after his win against Ronnie appears to be keeping his feet well on the ground, knowing all too well that this is just one win. He’ll be happy to let everyone else speculate and get excited while he knows he must just continue to focus on the snooker.
Next up for Allen is a semi-final showdown with either two-time winner John Higgins or Ryan Day who is one of the tour’s form horses and enjoying a season where he has won his first ranking event.
Mark Allen is happy with where his game is right now.
