'I haven’t earned it yet' - Northern Ireland's Mark Allen defeats Kyren Wilson in march to World Championship quarter-finals with trophy dream drive
Northern Ireland’s Mark Allen moved one step closer to that elusive first World Championship prize with a 13-9 success over Kyren Wilson.
The Antrim ace can now prepare for Tuesday’s quarter-final against either Barry Hawkins or Mark Williams thanks to a first career win over Wilson on the Crucible stage following a 5-0 lead, 6-5 deficit and 9-7 advantage before securing success on Saturday morning.
"Honesty, I wasn’t bothered by him getting in front after being 5-0 ahead...it wasn't like I’d played really good stuff to go 5-0, I just won a few close frames,” said Allen on BBC Sport following victory. "I thought Kyren, from 5-1, played very, very well to 6-5...I didn’t think I’d made that many mistakes and was still pretty positive.
"To finish that session 9-7 up I felt like I’d halted his momentum but you’ve still got to come out and play well today.
"As the match went on I felt more and more comfortable in the balls but I can’t keep feeling as edgy as I am at the start of matches.
"A lot of positives to take from 6-5 down against the world number two I played some really good stuff to win.”
Allen, now 40 years old, sits just outside the top 10 of most successful players in snooker history and previously highlighted “as a 12-year-old boy starting out I wanted to be world champion”.
A 12th ranking title arrived last September for the Antrim cueman with English Open glory and ‘The Pistol’ can also count Masters and UK Championship silverware on his roll of honour.
Allen, the first player from Northern Ireland to hold ranking as world’s number one, made his Crucible debut in 2007.
World highlights in Sheffield arrived during a 2009 run to the semi-finals and repeat position over 2023.
"I’ve got as much out of this event as I’ve deserved,” said Allen on BBC. "So that’s all you can really say...I haven’t played well enough and there’s no lucky world champions.
"You just have to go out there and earn it – and I haven’t earned it yet.
"I still feel like I’ve got the game to do it and that’s why I keep coming back.
"I played good today...even closing out yesterday’s session I was pretty much flawless as well.
"So it’s a really good end to the match for me...same as the first round, maybe just not quite as heavy scoring as the first round.
"Lots and lots of positives to take...I’ve just beat the world number two who loves this place as well and has a good record here."