Mark Allen thinks he has got his determined focus back after completing a 10-6 victory over Fan Zhengyi in the World Championship on Monday.
The Northern Irishman reached the second round with a strong display against a dangerous young opponent from China.
Allen could only watch and admire as Fan quickly won the opening three frames of the contest with a flurry of single-scoring visits.
But the Pistol fought his way back to lead 5-4 at the end of the opening session, and he pinched a couple of crucial close frames in the second session to then pull clear.
There was a minor wobble when Fan won two frames on the bounce near the end to reduce his arrears to 9-6, but Allen eventually got the job done with a break of 63.
The 39 year-old began the 2024/25 snooker season as the sport’s world number one, but a disappointing term has seen him drop down to eighth on the official two-year list.
After experiencing early defeats in the World Open, the World Grand Prix, and the Players Championship, the Antrim potter looked despondent with his game.
But the two-time Crucible semi-finalist has been working hard on the mental side of his preparations for Sheffield – getting fit and benefiting from sessions with his sports psychologist.
“That was the difference for me yesterday. I don’t think I could have won that session a few years back,” Mark Allen told the World Snooker Tour.
“I think mentally I’m very strong again. I was just thinking very clearly of one shot and one frame at a time.”
“I’d have taken 5-4 down [when trailing 3-0]. But to be 5-4 up overnight, he must have been thinking, ‘well, what more do I have to do here to get ahead of this guy?’
“I sort of pushed on then today and had a good start to the [second] session. I won two frames from behind that I had no real right to win.
“All of a sudden, it was 8-4, it turned into 9-4, and you’re just having to wait for that good chance.
“It took me three frames to do it, but I made a good break in the end.
“I’ve been working a lot harder on the mental side – I probably let my foot off the gas a little bit in recent times with that.
“I’ve always worked hard on the practice table, I’ve always done my hours. But I feel like I wasn’t doing things right off it.
“Even eating better. I’ve lost a bit of weight – a stone in the last month. I’ve been speaking to Paul [Gaffney] every day in the last month. Things are good.
“I’m still not quite where I want to be, but mentally I’m back where I think I was maybe 18 months ago.
“That’ll probably win me a lot of frames that I would have lost a few months ago.
“I’d still rather come into the World Championship on the back of winning every tournament in the season and being full of confidence.
“But it doesn’t always seem to work out that way, as you’ve seen with Kyren [Wilson] going out.
“Barry [Hawkins] was one of the form players of the year, Neil Robertson was one of the form players of the year, and they’re already out.
“But I’d still rather come in here full of confidence.”
Allen will face Chris Wakelin in the last 16 as he continues his bid to win the World Snooker Championship title for the first time.
Elsewhere on day three at the Crucible Theatre, an emotional John Higgins fought back from behind to beat Joe O’Connor in a repeat of their recent World Open final.
Zhao Xintong completed his impressive triumph over last year’s runner-up Jak Jones, with the Chinese qualifier very much on everybody’s radar as a potential champion in 2025.
Two other cueists from China lead overnight after orchestrating first-session advantages, with Ding Junhui and Si Jiahui leading Zak Surety and David Gilbert 6-3 respectively.
Those two ties conclude on Tuesday while Ronnie O’Sullivan and Shaun Murphy are among the star names entering the fray.
The Rocket returns to action for the first time in over three months against Ali Carter, while Murphy entertains debutant Daniel Wells.
Featured photo credit: WST
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Mark Allen making a 19th successive Crucible appearance this year.