Mark Allen hits 147 break and holds off Mark Selby in Masters thriller

Mark Allen hit a brilliant 147 break and clinched a tense 6-5 victory over Mark Selby at 15 minutes past midnight to set up a semi-final against Ali Carter in the Masters.

Allen trailed 2-0 and had looked to be in poor form when he produced his moment of magic in the third frame, often rescuing himself with audacious pots after running out of position. He received a standing ovation and was congratulated by Selby after knocking in the black to complete the maximum.

Allen had fought back from 4-1 down – with Selby seemingly in control – winning four straight frames to go 5-4 ahead. Selby took the next but Allen held his nerve to prevail at the end of a tense, dramatic match that had the Alexandra Palace crowd on the edge of their seats.

It was a match that had echoes of the pair’s epic world championship semi-final last April, when Selby fought off an Allen comeback to win 17-15 in an even later finish, 12.45am. So it was some measure of revenge for the Northern Irishman, who won the Masters in 2018.

Allen said: “I don’t know where the maximum came from because it was a really poor performance tonight. I just hung in there and hung in there. I started to feel a bit better at 4-3 and 4-4. As Mark said yesterday, we should have just started at midnight and played one frame because it was always going to go five-all.

“I was applying myself really well but I couldn’t find any rhythm, and as the match went on I grew into it. Any win against Mark is a good win so I’ll take that into tomorrow, but I’ll need to play better.”

On the 147, Allen said: “To do it here at the Masters was very special. It wasn’t the best cue ball in the world but it made it more exciting for the crowd and a bit more nerve-racking for me, but I’m glad I’ve finally done it for the fans.”

It is the fifth 147 in Masters history after those achieved by Kirk Stevens, Marco Fu and Ding Junhui (twice).

Allen now has a chance to add a sixth title in a little over a year in what has been a golden period for the Northern Irishman, which began when he lost four stone over the summer of 2022. He won three titles the following season, including the UK Championship, and this season has added the prestigious Champion of Champions crown and the Snooker Shoot Out to cap a rise to No 3 in the world. He is provisionally the world No 1 at the end of the season when the two players ranked above him – Ronnie O’Sullivan and Judd Trump – will lose their points from the 2022 world championship where they met in the final. Though this is dependent on results between now and the end of the season.

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Earlier the defending champion, Trump, was knocked out by Carter in another thrilling quarter-final. Carter has been in fine form this season, after his triumph in the German Masters last season which propelled him back into the world top 16, and sealed a 6-5 win to reach his second Masters semi-final.

Carter and Allen will meet on Saturday evening, after the O’Sullivan-Shaun Murphy match in the afternoon.