Snooker: Northern Ireland's Mark Allen today caused the sensation of this season's Betfred.com World Championship by knocking out Ronnie O'Sullivan. The world number 16 produced jaw-dropping snooker to turn around a 9-7 overnight deficit and win 13-11.
Defending champion and red-hot tournament favourite O’Sullivan was outplayed by the man from Antrim, who goes on to face Ryan Day or Nigel Bond in the quarter-finals.
O’Sullivan had reached at least the last-eight stage in each season since suffering a first-round defeat to Marcu Fu in 2003. But the three-time winner could not cope with Allen’s devastating display in the third session of their best-of-25-frames match.
O’Sullivan was bidding to become the first man since Stephen Hendry in 1996 to make a successful defence of his title.
Only Hendry and Steve Davis have achieved that feat since the tournament moved to the Crucible, and there must be real doubt over whether O’Sullivan will ever join them in that club.
Allen won the first three frames of the day before O’Sullivan responded in magnificent style with a break of 105. He potted 14 reds but missed a difficult 14th black, electing to play the shot left-handed rather than using the rest and left the ball in the jaws of the pocket.
The audience had been readying themselves to acclaim what would have been O’Sullivan’s fourth career maximum at the World Championship. It would have earned him prize money of over €173,000.
O’Sullivan had the first chance of the 21st frame, after they returned from the mid-session interval, but missed his starter. Allen made the first pot and then made a stunning safety shot to put O’Sullivan in a touch of trouble.
It was to be an Allen-dominated frame, as breaks of 47 and 36 carried him into a lead of 11-10.
Two frames now were needed for victory, and while O’Sullivan needed to stage a comeback, there was an altogether different pressure on Allen. He had come into the match stating that “favourites don’t always win”, and that could easily have backfired on the 23-year-old.
He had the opportunity to develop a handsome lead in the 22nd frame but screwed back into the middle pocket after potting a red. O’Sullivan capitalised with a match-levelling break of 67.
The 33-year-old was poised to lead 12-11 but missed a black off its spot which left Allen 0-37 behind, but favourite for the frame. There was still much work to be done but Allen calmly knocked in a break of 80, and was one away.
Allen went 34-0 in front before O’Sullivan was handed an unexpected chance.
He missed, put Allen back in, and minutes later, after a break of 46, the upset of the tournament was complete.