Mark Allen reached the quarter-finals of the 2026 World Snooker Championship on Saturday after beating Kyren Wilson 13-9 at the Crucible Theatre.
In a topsy-turvy tie, Allen raced into a seemingly commanding 5-0 lead but was pegged back to 5-3 by the end of the first session.
Wilson then won the opening three frames of the second session to take an unexpected 6-5 advantage, with the Warrior edging in front with a break of 112.
But the 2024 world champion could only muster one contribution above 50 after that as Allen regained control of the contest.
A 140 break helped the Pistol reestablish his two-frame cushion heading into the third and final session of play.
Allen then finished strongly, as he had done in his opening-round fixture against Zhang Anda, to become the second player through to the last eight in this year’s competition after Shaun Murphy.
“I wasn’t bothered by him getting in front after being 5-0 ahead,” Allen reflected when talking to the BBC immediately after the match concluded.
“It wasn’t like I had played really good stuff to go 5-0 – I just won a few close frames. From 5-1, I thought Kyren played very well to go 6-5.”
“I didn’t feel like I made that many mistakes, so I was still pretty positive. So to finish the second session 9-7 up, I felt like I halted his momentum.
“I think as the match went on, I felt more and more comfortable in the balls. But I can’t keep being as edgy as I am at the start of matches.
“There are a lot of positives to take. From 6-5 down against the world number two, I’ve played some really good stuff there to win.”
Allen is a former Masters champion, a former UK champion, and a former world number one who has collected 12 ranking titles in total.
Yet the 40 year-old has an awful record in Sheffield by his own standards, with this run representing only his sixth to the quarter-finals since making his debut in 2007.
“I’ve got as much out of this event as I’ve deserved. That’s all you can really say,” Allen, a two-time semi-finalist, said candidly.
“I haven’t played well enough, and there’s no lucky world champions. You have to go out there and earn it, and I haven’t earned it yet.”
“But I still feel like I’ve got the game to do it, and that’s why I keep coming back.
“I played good today, and even closing out yesterday’s session for the last two frames I was pretty much flawless.
“It was a really good end to the match for me – the same as the first round, just maybe not quite as heavy scoring. But lots of positives to take.”
Wilson, on the other hand, will slip down the world rankings list with the £500,000 prize money that he earned for winning the 2024 world crown set to be deducted from his rolling two-year tally.
In a season where he picked up two prestigious invitational titles in Shanghai and at the Masters, performances in ranking events have been poor.
The 34 year-old is down to sixth provisionally, although that might drop even lower depending on how other results go in this year’s tournament.
“It is what it is. It’s the World Championship, and I’m disappointed to go out at this round,” Wilson said.
“I worked very hard coming into this event, but there were just too many different variables. You can’t go into this tournament and go the distance if you’re not settled.”
“In the first session, I felt like I left myself a lot to do. I’m proud of the way I managed to fight back and give Mark a good game.
“I’m really looking forward to next season. It’s going to be a new chapter, and I can put all this behind me. Hopefully, I’l have a good season off the back of it.”
Allen, meanwhile, will face either Mark Williams or Barry Hawkins in the next round with that match to conclude later today.
Hawkins will take a 10-6 lead over the three-time world champion into their third session which takes place on Saturday evening.
Featured photo credit: WST
