World Snooker Championship: Mark Allen trails Mark Selby 9-6 in second-round clash
Last updated on .From the section Snooker
| Betfred World Snooker Championship |
|---|
| Venue: Crucible Theatre, Sheffield Dates: 17 April-3 May |
| Coverage: Watch live on BBC One, BBC Two, BBC Four and Red Button, with uninterrupted coverage on BBC iPlayer, BBC Sport website and BBC Sport app. |
Northern Ireland's Mark Allen trails Mark Selby 9-6 after the second session of their second-round match at the World Championship in Sheffield.
Allen, 6-2 down after the first session, battled well to cut the margin to 8-6 after successive breaks of 78 and 75, but Selby won the last frame.
There was not time to play the final scheduled frame of the session.
Selby had remained four clear at the mid-session interval, helped by a break of 135 in the 10th frame.
Allen won the first frame of the afternoon as he potted his first ball in 75 minutes of play to overhaul a 37-0 deficit with a break of 67.
Selby's superbly crafted century restored his four-frame advantage before Allen pinched frame 11 as his run of 72 overhauled the Leicester man's break of 54.
The margin was four once more as Selby won frame 12 but Allen fought back brilliantly to get within two of the Englishman after his runs of 78 and 75.
However, a missed red to a middle pocket proved costly in frame 15 as Selby again put significant daylight between the players ahead of Monday evening's final session.
Allen defeated Chinese qualifier Lyu Haotian 10-2 in his first round match while Selby was an even more comfortable victor, seeing off Kurt Maflin 10-1.
The winner of the last-16 tie between fourth-ranked Selby and number 13 seed Allen will face Mark Williams in the quarter-finals.
The most recent of Selby's three world titles came in 2017, while Allen's previous best performance at the Crucible Theatre was back in 2009, when he reached the semi-finals.
