Mark Allen 'gave everything' in Masters semi-final defeat against Ali Carter

Allen lit up the tournament after registering the second 147 maximum break of this year’s Masters to edge past Mark Selby 6-5 and into the last four.

However, he was unable to muster another victory with a place in the final at stake, losing 6-3 to Carter.

After the second frame, play had been temporarily paused for around 10 minutes for a member of the crowd to receive medical attention before Carter made successive century breaks to lead 3-1 at the interval.

Another well-crafted 105 break extended Carter’s lead at 4-1 before Allen stopped the run with a century of his own in the fifth frame. Allen then made it 4-3 after Carter had missed a red when looking set on a break of 55.

Carter, runner-up at the 2020 Masters, regrouped to take the next frame 87-8 before there was another brief pause in the ninth frame when a woman in the audience needed medical attention.

It was Carter, though, who kept his composure through a tense finale after both men missed chances before he cut a thin blue to the bottom corner before sealing victory on the pink.

Allen said: “I just came up against an opponent that played well. I got myself back into the game at 4-3 but I couldn’t kick on from there. Well done to Ali.”

In a post on social media, he added: “Not to be last night but all credit to Ali. Been the best player all week and definitely last night.

"Too many mistakes from me but gave it everything. I’ll be dangerous when I started playing well!

"Still a memorable 147 and myself a chance yet again this weekend of a triple crown.”

In the final, Carter will meet Ronnie O’Sullivan, who stormed into a 14th Masters final with a 6-2 win over Shaun Murphy and then called on snooker’s young pretenders to up their game.

The 48-year-old moved one victory away from becoming the oldest winner of this Triple Crown event with four half-century breaks enough to down old rival Murphy in their first meeting for five years.

Murphy reeled off two superb three-figure breaks, including 131 in the third frame, but O’Sullivan’s cavalier approach paid dividends with reds aplenty potted in this semi-final to delight a packed Alexandra Palace crowd.

“I don’t feel that old,” O’Sullivan, the youngest ever Masters winner, told BBC.

“I know my age but I feel young in my mind and I feel young when I am around the table.

“I feel a lot younger round the table than I do when I play these young players. They look old! Their brains are quite slow so for me, I feel like my brain is pretty quick around the snooker table, which is enough.

“Yeah, they need to get their act together because I am going blind, I have a dodgy arm and bad knees. And they still can’t beat me!”