Allen hoping to win of the battle of the Mark's in Masters quarter-final
Mark Allen says he is hoping his good form against Mark Selby continues as the two men lock horns in the quarter-final of the Masters this evening.
Antrim man Allen, who beat China's Si Jiahui in his opening match at Alexandra Palace, has won four of their last six meetings against the three-time world champion.
The two are set to do it all over again for a spot in the last four of the competition.
Allen famously defeated Selby in last year’s competition, producing a spectacular 147 maximum break on his way to victory.
"I think nearly every time we play our matches are close,” he told SportsBoom.com
"But I think I've won a few of the recent meetings. I've won a couple of times in this event. I've won twice in Saudi.
“I know it sounds so silly. It’s easier when you play someone like Mark (Selby) because you just have to play well, there's no second chance. Is he going to crumble? Is he going to miss this? It just doesn't happen.”
This season, while Allen’s performances have been consistently high, he struggled to convert them into titles—until his breakthrough in Riyadh, where he triumphed at the Saudi Arabia Snooker Masters, defeating Luca Brecel in the final.
He added: “It's mad because a few years back, if you said to me, I have to wait seven months between tournament wins, I would have said that's alright. But whenever you feel like you're used to winning, seven months feels like an eternity and it feels like, am I ever going to win again? That’s the craziness of snooker.”