Mark Allen into Scottish Open semi-finals but 'not taking anything for granted' in chase for £100,000 cheque and Stephen Hendry trophy
Mark Allen’s pursuit of a second Scottish Open success has reached the semi-final stages following victory over Noppon Saengkham by 5-2.
Northern Ireland’s Allen lost the first frame then posted four on the bounce to take control.
His opponent, last year’s losing finalist in the tournament, cut the deficit but Allen closed out with a third post-century score.
He now takes on Lei Peifan in Saturday’s semi-final (7pm start).
"I thought I'd get on with it, and see what happens," said Allen on Eurosport following the victory. "Nice to see some balls going in and I'm scoring pretty well.
"I feel pretty good...but I'm not taking anything for granted.
"I need to perform the way I've been performing to come through the semi-finals."
Allen recently reflected on his Scottish Open triumph over 2018 as “a good one”.
"It was a good one as I think that year it was my third tournament win,” he told Eurosport. “I won the International Championship and The Masters, so it was good.
"Any tournament win is great, but in such a good city (Glasgow) is even nicer."
This year’s pursuit of The Stephen Hendry Trophy and £100,000 first prize has featured early wins over Ryan Day and Jack Lisowski.
Following that 4-3 win on Thursday, Allen highlighted his feelings on Lisowski.
"As someone who really enjoys watching Jack play, you'd love to know what is going on in his head,” said Allen, the world number five, on the official WST website following a sixth straight defeat of Lisowski. “He plays some great snooker and then misses one in the balls that you don't expect at all.
"I'm glad I'm still hanging around...there are three very tough matches in front of me, but it is nice to still be in the hat.
"I've played some decent stuff.
"From a poor start in my first game I played well against Ryan Day and decent there.”
In Saturday’s first semi-final – due to start at 1 o’clock – We Yize and Xiao Guodong will compete for a spot in the Sunday showdown. Wu edged out Chris Wakelin by 5-4 in his quarter-final, with Xiao defeating Luca Brecel by 5-1.