Favourite Allen knocked out of home Open by unfancied Ursenbacher

HOME favourite Mark Allen is out of the Northern Ireland Snooker Open after Alexander Ursenbacher edged a 4-3 victory in Belfast.

Having whitewashed Perth’s Scott Donaldson 4-0 earlier yesterday, world No 7 Allen was in fine form as he looked to reach the quarter-finals at the Waterfront Hall.

However, Ursenbacher raced into a 2-0 lead with breaks of 62 and 64. Allen responded emphatically with a knock of 101 before levelling the match.

Ursenbacher (72) and Allen (103) shared another frame apiece before the 23-year-old Swiss held his nerve to win the deciding frame with a break of 69.

Shaun Murphy went through after a 4-2 win against 2017 finalist Barry Hawkins, who won the first frame with an impressive 77 break.

However, Murphy hit back, winning a t i ght second frame before moving to within a frame of victory with a break of 62. Hawkins won the next frame with a 129 break to give himself a chance but Murphy clinched the win in the sixth.

He will face five-time world champion Ronnie O’Sullivan in the last eight after his 4-1 win over Yuan Sijun.

O’Sullivan edged a close opening frame and then doubled his lead with an emphatic break of 127. Yuan pulled a frame back and threatened to level the match, only for the Rocket to storm to victory with breaks of 78 and 57.

Defending champ Judd Trump beat Yan Bingtao 4-0. Bingtao was no match for the world No 1, who produced another clinical display of potting and break building, reeling off breaks of 61, 56 and 70.

Trump took another step towards defending the Alex Higgins Trophy. He has not dropped a frame since the third frame of his second-round win over Zhang Ada.

Mark Allen suffered a shock Belfast defeat.