- By Steve Sutcliffe
- ` Sport at Manchester Central
21 minutes ago
image source, Getty Images
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Mark Allen has already won three tournaments this season
Mark Allen defeated John Higgins 10-7 in a hard-fought game to advance to the quarter-finals of the Tour Championship in Manchester.
Higgins led 4-1 in Monday's opening session, but Allen managed a superb break of 123 en route to equalizing.
As the duo exchanged ideas over the next four frames, two centuries and a series of 93 helped the Northern Irishman pull away from Scotland's Higgins.
Allen will face China's Ding Junhui in the round of 16 on Wednesday (7pm BST).
“I persevered in the beginning,” Allen, 38, said. “He (Higgins) froze me but I was happy to come out of the first session 4-4.”
“There are good gaps in these games. I won three frames on black and also one frame where John touched a ball with his sleeve, so it could have been a completely different result.”
It was a composed performance from Allen, who went from strength to strength as the competition progressed in front of a healthy crowd attending the first ranking event in central Manchester.
He also benefited from being ahead in three frames decided by black – the decisive win in the seventh frame cutting the deficit to 4-3. Allen then took the 14th frame to build a two-frame lead at 8-6 after Higgins saw a long pink rattle in the jaws of the left corner pocket.
While four-time world champion Higgins looked confident under the balls with a half-century in each of the frames he won, he was let down by his long game and admission of uncharacteristic fouls.
Higgins, sportingly, claimed a penalty for himself for touching the white twice, and in the 16th frame, while in, also brushed the green with his shirt, giving Allen the chance to take the frame on his return to the table win by visiting.
Williams & Wilson gain a narrow lead
In the other first round game on Monday night, Mark Williams secured a 5-3 lead over Tom Ford in a high-scoring affair.
Three-time world champion Williams managed breaks of 72, 59, 76 and 86 and appeared to be in control early on.
But England's Ford, who appeared to have calmed down after his first frame of the match with a century, also scored a 73 and a wonderful 136 and will remain in contention when their competition concludes at 7pm BST on Tuesday.
Gary Wilson previously made three half-centuries and a century as he took a 5-3 lead over Mark Selby.
Both players appeared to be in good touch as they shared the first four frames, with Welsh Open champion Wilson managing breaks of 95 and 98 and Selby enjoying a run of 85.
However, Wilson won a hard-fought fifth frame and had further breaks of 78 and 101. But Selby stayed in touch with a run of 71 in the eighth frame of their best-of-19 match, which is scheduled to resume at 13:00 BST on Tuesday .
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