Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
ALLEN KEY IN THE UK
Pistol’s planning to prove that he’s unlocked his full potential
MARK ALLEN believes it’s time he delivered at the UK Championship.
Northern Ireland’s top potter reached the semi-finals in 2011 and was a beaten finalist the following year.
But in the past four seasons the Antrim ace has failed to get past the fourth round as his hopes of winning the trophy were prematurely ended.
Allen kicks off his 2018 challenge tonight and stated: “I’ve always wanted to win the UK title.
“There are lots of big tournaments these days, we’re playing all over the world. But the UK Championship is up there with the Masters and the World Championship.”
Allen showed his class to win his first Masters title in January and has been growing in confidence since.
Earlier this month, the world No7 claimed his fourth ranking title, pocketed £150,000 for winning the International Championship in China.
The left-handler said: “Everything’s been coming together nicely for a while now, but to start with I wasn’t getting the results, even though I thought I was playing well.
“But I’ve been working really hard on my game and I’ve started to get the rewards.
“It all started to come together when I won the Masters in January. That was just a magical week.
“Winning such a big title does give you a big confidence boost and has maybe given me that little bit of extra belief that I should be winning more titles.
“It’s hard to win tournaments these days because the standard is so high – and there’s so many players in the running.
“But you’ve just got to keep pushing on and see what you can achieve.
“Mark Selby has stayed World No 1 for such a long time, it’s all about consistency.
“I’m trying to find that consistency. I’ve always known I’m capable of winning big events, but it’s up to me to deliver.”
Facing Allen tonight is Egyptian potter Basem Eltahhan, the world No126. And barring a shock in their best-of-11 frame duel, ‘Pistol’ will play either Rory Mcleod or Peter Lines in the second round on Saturday. Yesterday, former world champion Ken Doherty (inset) rolled back the years to set up a daunting showdown with Ronnie O’sullivan.
The Dubliner pocketed breaks of 51, 130, 50 and 82 to crush Chinese young gun Yuan Sijun 6-2.
And Doherty, who won the recent UK Seniors Championship, roared: “Bring on the Rocket!”
He added: “I enjoy days like today when I’m playing well. I still love competing.”