By:
Graeme Hanna
Mark Allen fought off a late scare from China’s Zhou Yuelong to win the English Open in a dramatic climax late on Sunday.
The final-frame decider was actually not settled until the early hours of Monday, but it was worth the wait for the Antrim-native who secured his 12th career ranking title, and his first in 19 months.
It should all have been so much easier for the Northern Irishman who went into Sunday’s final session leading 6-2, and he went on to establish a 7-3 lead, but nerves and overthinking set in, allowing Zhou to get ahead at 8-7, needing just one more frame for glory.
As was the case all week at Brentwood, adversity and pressure was the driver for Mark Allen, as he steadied himself to take the last two frames, and with it, the Steve Davis Trophy and the £100,000 jackpot for the winner.
This epic final was snooker at its finest, two players fighting for every ball, and for quite some time, denying the other opportunities to get to the ball.
In pulling back Zhou Yuelong to win the English Open in the last frame, Mark Allen followed the pattern that saw him get the better of Stuart Bingham, Ding Junhui, Elliot Slessor and Jak Jones, all in final-frame deciders.
https://twitter.com/tntsports/status/1969908819225456670
Timely success for Mark Allen, as recent form continues
It was a long day and night for the Ulsterman, but importantly, he got the job done to lift the English Open trophy for the very first time.
It’s not the way he wants to win, every time, but the resilience, spirit, and bottle that he showed were exemplary.
“It means a lot,” said Allen, when asked about his immediate reflections.
He told the World Snooker Tour, “To win any tournament these days is good, but to do it the way I done it this week with not my best stuff and coming from behind a lot.
“I like to give value for money, that’s the one thing I would say but I’d like to find a bit of form.
“I felt good in the first session and 6-2 was probably deserved. I just didn’t close it out the way I would have liked, but then at 8-7, I felt like I switched back on again. I felt really good in those last two frames, which is a good sign for going forward.
“I just need to keep doing what I’m doing on the practice table, because I feel like I’ve been trending in the right direction for a while.
“I was absolutely shattered all day. I think adrenaline got me through that first session, and then to be honest I was really tired tonight.
“It’s no excuse for some of the balls that I missed, but yeah I was feeling it. But it was weird, because at 8-7 I suddenly felt like I had a bit more adrenaline.
“I think other people know now that I’m not going to give up, and I’m never beat. That’s sort of worth a frame in itself sometimes. I’m happy to win ugly. There was some decent stuff in there, but there’s plenty more to come,” said the 2025 English Open winner.
The dust has barely settled, but there will be no rest time for ‘The Pistol’, as he is straight into British Open action against Jiang Jun, with the tournament commencing in Cheltenham on Monday, a matter of hours after the ticker tape landed at the English Open.
Mark Allen is now well-positioned to qualify for all three of the Players Series events this season, as well as securing a spot in November’s Champion of Champions event.
Looking ahead to the near future, the 39-year-old added, “The Welsh Open and World Championship are the two that stand out for me that are missing on my CV.
Image credit: snooker_chat/X
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