Mark Allen knocked out of Tour Championship after semi-final defeat
Mark Allen was denied a place in the Tour Championship final despite mounting a late fightback against Mark Williams.
Welshman Williams survived an unlikely rally to beat the Northern Ireland player 10-5 and book a mouthwatering final with Ronnie O’Sullivan.
Williams raced into a 9-0 lead at Manchester Central, but then saw the Antrim man take five frames on the trot to delay the seemingly inevitable.
Afterwards, Allen said on social media: “Always a pleasure to play one of the all time greats. Simply too good for me today.
"Wish I’d taken his cue when he offered me it in frame 2!
"Good luck to both guys in tomorrow’s final. Should be a cracker.”
It was a tense finish to the game and Williams admitted he had been worried by Allen’s tenacity.
He told ITV3: “Absolutely. Nine-nil, you can’t lose really, but an hour later it’s 9-5, if he wins that one 9-6, then your bum is going, there’s no question.”
The three-time world champion imposed a stranglehold on the match from the off, winning the first two frames before successive breaks of 99, 105 and 112 – he missed the final red in the latter as he closed in on a maximum – made it 5-0 as things started to turn ugly for Allen.
Williams scrapped his way over the line in the sixth and eased further ahead in the seventh before completing a first-session whitewash.
He picked up where he had left off in the evening session, rattling in a clearance of 140 to go 9-0 ahead, but Allen stopped the rot with a break of 65 to avoid the whitewash.
With Williams appearing to lose concentration, Allen won the next four frames – the last of them with a break of 69 – to reduce the deficit to 9-5.
However, the 49-year-old regained his composure to compile a decisive 75 to make Sunday’s final.
Williams said: “If I had to pick, it would definitely be O’Sullivan to play. He’s the best player by a mile, but I’m not afraid to play him. I’m going to enjoy it.”