Mark Allen reeled off three consecutive frames to establish a 5-3 advantage over Mark Selby in the first session of their Cazoo World Championship semi-final fixture.
Northern Ireland’s Allen compiled five breaks over 60 during the session as he gained an early lead in the best-of-33 contest. They return for eight more frames on Friday from 2.30pm, with the last two sessions to be played on Saturday.
Allen is playing in one-table situation at the Crucible for only the second time in his career and first since 2009. Victory would put him into the final for the first time and he is chasing a fourth title of the season having already won the Northern Ireland Open, UK Championship and World Grand Prix.
Selby has vastly more experience at the business end in Sheffield as this is his eighth semi-final, and on four of the previous seven occasions he has gone on to win the title.
Leicester’s Selby started strongly tonight with a break of 123, his seventh century of the tournament, before Allen levelled with a run of 63. In frame three, Allen trailed 34-8 but recovered with a break of 66 to take the lead. Selby dominated the next two with a top run of 68 to edge 3-2 ahead.
World number two Selby scored just one point in the last three frames of the session as third seed Allen rattled in breaks of 64, 60 and 78.
Stay connected with us on social media platform for instant update click here to join our Twitter, & Facebook
We are now on Telegram. Click here to join our channel (@TechiUpdate) and stay updated with the latest Technology headlines.
For all the latest Snooker News Click Here
