Mark Allen and Mark Selby play out ‘one of the craziest deciders’ at Saudi snooker event | Other | Sport
Mark Allen finished with a double on the black to win a memorable encounter with Mark Selby in the Riyadh Season World Masters of Snooker event in Saudi Arabia. After trailing 3-1, and then 12-57 in the final frame, the Northern Irishman came through what was labelled a ‘crazy’ deciding frame where both players blew serveral chances to seal glory.
With just the pink and black left on the table, and Allen still four points down, the 38-year-old looked in a nigh on impossible position with both colours bunched near the white and all three hovering over a pocket. But with the back blocking his view of the link, he produced a magical finish.
With expert precision, he played a double with the white that spanned the full length of the table and back again. Somehow, he managed the pace of that ball so that the pink dropped, but the white was left on jaws and again just centimetres off the seven-point ball.
A pot didn’t seem on but then Selby, who had previously stayed alive in the frame with a fluke pot on the green, lined-up a double. And to the astonishment of the crowd, the black cannoned off the far cushion and back into one of the middle pockets.
And the excitement was summed up on Eurosport commentary. “Amazing,” one pundit said. “A crazy match. One of the most remarkable afternoons of drama we’ve seen in this sport in recent times.”
In his post-match interview, Allen himself admitted he had rarely been involved in such a finish. “It had everything,” he said. “A few missed pots, some really good safety, and then a lot of drama at the end.”
Allen also revealed the pace of the table in Riyadh had affected both players. “It’s so fast,” he added. “The TV really doesn’t do justice to the pace of the balls.”
Meanwhile, stunned fans took to social media to comment on the mad ending. One spectator said: “Thanks in advance to Mark Selby and Mark Allen for one of the craziest deciders of the whole season so far. We had everything in this frame, or?”
Allen is now into the semi-finals, guaranteeing himself prize money of £75,000. Selby himself conceded he only had himself to blame after losing the final three frames in a row, and heads home with £50,000.
The time taken to play the seven frames meant a long wait for Ali Carter and Luca Brecel. Their clash will be followed by Judd Trump v Shaun Murphy and John Higgins v Ronnie O’Sullivan.