Mark Allen inspired by recent world champions as he enjoys timely return to form

By Mark Staniforth, PA

Mark Allen is determined to seek inspiration from recent Crucible champions as he looks to end a difficult season on a high by claiming the world snooker title for the first time.

The Antrim 39-year-old has slipped from first to eighth in the standings after failing to go beyond a ranking semi-final this season, but says he is brimming with confidence after completing a 10-6 win over Chinese qualifier Fan Zhengyi.

Both Kyren Wilson and Luca Brecel clinched their respective world titles having arrived in Sheffield on the back of below-par campaigns and, after reeling off four frames in a row to make victory over Fan a formality, Allen looks to be regaining his momentum at the right time.

Allen said: “It just shows that sometimes the form book goes out of the window here. Kyren had a shocker of a season compared to what I’ve had and he went on to win the world title.

“Obviously I’d rather have come into this tournament on the back of some good form, but if he can do it and Luca can do it the year before, why not me?”

Allen, who had lost the first three frames of the match on Sunday, book-ended his four-frame streak with breaks of 88 and 102 as he turned his slender 5-4 overnight advantage into a dominant position on the brink of the last 16.

Fan, who was also beaten by Allen on his only previous Crucible appearance in 2023, belatedly rallied with breaks of 86 and 74, but he was merely prolonging the inevitable and a break of 63 got Allen over the line.

Allen will next face Chris Wakelin, who edged former winner Neil Robertson in a late-night thriller on Sunday, and is the only seed left in the top quarter of the draw after earlier defeats for Wilson and last year’s finalist Jak Jones.

Allen put his timely resurgence down to sessions with psychologist Paul Gaffney, whom he credited with hauling him back towards the solid mental state he enjoyed when he reached the top of the world rankings in 2023.

“I feel like I’m in a good place coming here and mentally I’m back to where I was 18 months ago,” added Allen.

“I’ve been working with Paul every day now for the last month. I feel like I maybe dropped the ball a little bit by not speaking to him as much as I could. It’s certainly not an on-table thing because I’ve been working as hard as I’ve ever done.”

Joe O’Connor missed out on a maximum but chiselled out a 5-4 advantage over John Higgins after the opening session of their first-round clash that is due to conclude on Monday evening.

The Leicester qualifier potted 12 reds and red blacks in the seventh frame and was on track to make the 15th 147 in Crucible history before missing a tough red to the top corner with the rest.

O’Connor, who dumped his good friend Mark Selby out at the first-round stage last year, largely controlled the opening stages but struggled to make his scoring count against the experienced Scot.

Higgins, the four-time champion who comes into this year’s tournament in top form after clinching the Tour Championship title earlier this month, failed to muster a single half-century during nine largely long and attritional frames.

But despite O’Connor’s 100 break in the sixth frame and three further breaks over 80, Higgins hung on and took the final frame of the morning session to suggest a late finish could be on the cards.

Crucible debutant Zak Surety finished the opening session of his first-round match against Ding Junhui with a century as he clawed back to within three frames of the former Crucible finalist.

Surety made a nightmare start as he lost the first four frames but his belated rally – capped by a memorable break of 104 – will give him hope when he resumes on Tuesday trailing 6-3.