Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
PISTOL HAS UK TITLE IN SIGHTS
MARK ALLEN kept his UK Championship title charge on track last night.
The former Masters champion, 36, says he has “unfinished business” at the prestigious ranking event after losing in the 2011 and 2018 finals to Judd Trump and Ronnie O’sullivan respectively.
And the world No.9 impressively booked his place in a sixth UK quarter-final after winning six of the last seven frames to beat Kyren Wilson 6-3 in a repeat of their 2018 Masters final at York’s Barbican.
“It was another poor start for me,” admitted Allen (above). “I just like giving people two-frame head starts at the moment! I didn’t miss too many balls after that. I was very happy with how I played after that.
“I’m just in a good place. If I miss a few shots it’s not affecting me. I wish I did that a long time ago.”
Allen quickly found himself 2-0 behind after former World Championship finalist Wilson hit a break of 67. But the on-song Pistol fired in breaks of 96, 84, 80, 70, 70 and 60 and to keep his bid for the £250,000 top prize alive.
He now has surprise package Sam Craigie, the world No.47 who beat British Open champion Ryan Day 6-4, in tomorrow’s quarter-finals.