Match Reports from the 888.com World Snooker Championship
Allen Makes Mark On Stevens
Matthew Stevens 5 – 3 Mark Allen
Rookie Mark Allen showed his elimination of Ken Doherty was no fluke with a classy comeback against Matthew Stevens.
Stevens steamrollered Joe Delaney in round one, and his good form continued. The Welshman scored heavily from the beginning, and threatened to overwhelm his opponent by taking the first four frames.
Allen composed himself during the interval, and capitalised on a Stevens miss to make a century.
The 21-year-old built on that with a 63 to take the sixth frame, and got the Crucible on its feet with a 118 in the seventh. He had racked up 322 points without reply in one of the best spells of quality snooker in the tournament so far.
Stevens showed his class when he finally got back to the table to make an 85 in the final frame to finish a superb session leading 5-3.
The match concludes with sessions in the morning and evening on day eight, and if the pattern continues, it could be a fascinating match.
By David Pritchard
