November’s snooker focussed around the Champion of Champions
and the start of the UK Championships in York as well as the Bulgarian Open and
over these events there was one man I’ve picked out for his return to form and
for his Bulgarian Open win and Champion of Champions runner-up performance that
is Mark Allen.
Things started slowly for him in Bulgaria despite winning
his early round games. Ross Muir was seen off 4-0 and then he overcame the
world champion Stuart Bingham in what was quite a scrappy match and both
players had plenty of chances at key times, but Allen eventually won that one
4-3. Breaks of 96 and 102 helped him finish off his opening day in style to
beat Nigel Bond 4-1 and make it into Sunday for the Last 16.
His opponent in round four was Michael Holt, and despite
breaks of 55 and 56 from Holt he didn’t manage to win a single frame, while
Mark’s highest break was 70 in what from the scores looked like one of the
least one sided 4-0’s you were likely to see over the course of the three days
in Bulgaria. Things started to then heat up in the quarter-finals where his
opposition was Mike Dunn. Dunn was looking for consecutive semi-finals on the
European Tour and after a break of 82 put him 3-1 ahead. Allen needed to
respond and the comeback started with a 126 break to make it 2-3 before forcing
the deciding frame in which a break of 81 stopped Dunn from even having a
chance and put him into the semi-finals a 4-3 winner.
He was on the TV for his semi-final against Mark Williams
and even though we weren’t treated to a close contest it certainly was a joy to
watch. Allen finished the match with a pot success rate of 97% as he had runs
of 74, 62, 79 and 80 in the four frames played to win the match in double quick
time without dropping a single frame. That performance was one of sheer quality
and most likely set up after he seemed to spark into life in the latter stages
of his match with Dunn and took this forward into the rest of the tournament.
There was still one more match to go, against another
Welshman Ryan Day in the final. Breaks of 65 and 76 saw Allen dominate the
early stages as Day hadn’t really had a chance and fell 2-0 adrift. A run of 56
in the next looked like being enough to seal the frame, but after getting two
snookers Day had left the frame once again in the balance. That was until Mark
potted the pink to regain the driving seat in the match, one away from the
title at 3-0. Ryan did have a chance in the fourth but Mark was able to win the
safety battle late on in the frame which was the chance he needed to win frame
and match 4-0.
That performance was particularly good given the fact that
he had not yet qualified for the Champion of Champions in Coventry and with it
starting the week after Bulgaria he left it very late to earn his place in the
big money event.
He played on the Friday afternoon in the first round against
Barry Hawkins and pretty much carried on from where he had left off in
Bulgaria. A 105 break got him off to the perfect start, but then he didn’t
score a point in the next two frames as he went 2-1 behind with Hawkins making
a wonderful 131 along the way. The key was when Allen levelled the match at 2-2
after winning a tight frame and the next two followed for a 4-2 victory, to set
up a quarter-final that evening with Stephen Maguire.
Allen stormed into a 3-0 lead in the best-of-11 match after
breaks of 73 and 77, and again he won another key frame by stealing the fourth
on the black to head into the interval 4-0 ahead and cruising along. Breaks of
107 and 50 gave Maguire the next two to stay in it at 4-2 but when Mark took
the match it looked like game over, and a 104 break to finish in style soon
made sure that it was over.
On Saturday, he came back for the semi-finals against Kyren
Wilson who he had previously lost to in the Shanghai Masters semi-finals 6-1.
On this occasion Allen was able to take out some real revenge with a 6-3
victory which included breaks of 88, 80 and 61 to put him into the final on
Sunday against Neil Robertson.
Unfortunately for Allen and his fans, there was nothing he
could do in the final as Robertson played like a train storming into an 8-3
lead in the evening before eventually winning 10-5.
That didn’t take away from how well Mark had played in the
last couple of weeks, as it meant that from the tournaments he had earned over
£68,000 in prize money and timed his return to form perfectly with the UK
Championships to follow soon after. Playing well at the right times is another
measure of class and that was what Allen showed to make him my player of the
month for November.
Be sure to return tomorrow on New Years Eve, to find out the final nominee on the list.
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