Mark Allen successfully began the defence of his Haikou World Open title on Tuesday despite the best efforts of Ryan Day and a leaky roof.
Welshman Day signalled his intentions with breaks of 63 and 81 to open and 2-0 lead over Allen who soon discovered he wasn’t going to have it all his own way.
However, the Antrim man responded with 69 and then pinched a vital fourth frame after Day missed the brown.
But that’s when the outside elements interfered with play when some rain drops started dripping onto the table from a leaking roof.
There was a delay to the resumption of the match after the interval.
Drops of liquid, condensation from the roof, started dripping down onto the playing surface of the table.
Play had to be held up while the leak was repaired and the table dried out.
Allen wasted no time after that in powering over the winning line. He rattled in breaks of 52, 84 and 78 to win 5-2.
The Ulster cue star admitted the fourth frame was pivotal in the outcome of the game.
“I think the fourth frame was the turning point,” Allen said.
“If I’d gone 3-1 down, it would have put me in trouble and it would have been quite hard to come back from that in a Best of 9 frame match.”
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