2024 English Open Snooker: Mark Allen battles back to avoid shock against Long Zehuang to reach last 32
Updated 17/09/2024 at 17:08 GMT
Ryan Day, Jak Jones, Gary Wilson and Tom Ford have all been knocked out at the English Open as top 16 players keep crashing out. At one stage it looked as if Mark Allen would be the latest player to join them but having been 2-0 up and then subsequently 3-2 down he battled back to beat Long Zehuang 4-3 and reach the last 32, avoiding what would have been a massive shock.
Allen has 'the last laugh' as he seals comeback win over Long
Mark Allen had to dig deep at the 2024 English Open to avoid becoming the victim of a giant shock as he went from 2-0 up, to 3-2 down and then eventually a 4-3 winner over Long Zehuang.
A scrappy opening frame ended with Allen taking it, but Long would have felt that he could have won the first to put the pressure on his more illustrious opponent.
Initially it seemed as if Allen’s jumpiness would continue into the second frame when he missed a safety on a red twice early on.
However Allen regrouped and knocked in a great break of 88 to double his lead.
Long had a chance as looked to be set on the table after an outrageous blue in the third, but he then missed a simple red.
It didn’t prove costly though as a weak safety from Allen opened the door and this time Long did enough with a break of 65 to halve the deficit.
'He didn't foresee that!' - Allen flukes red into bottom corner
That frame seemed to spark something in Long, who then piled in a break of 71 before running out of steam somewhat. Nevertheless, Allen, who came to the table with only 67 on the table, couldn’t find any kind of rhythm in his safety game and ended up conceding the frame.
Things went from bad to worst for the Northern Irishman as he potted the white earlier in the fifth giving Long a good run at the balls.
Although he couldn’t directly clean up, Long did put Allen in enough tricky positions so that the veteran couldn’t do anything.
Suddenly, having been 2-0 up, Allen found himself 3-2 down and facing a massive shock having not potted a ball for three frames.
Allen needed a bit of luck to go his way and he got it when he fluked a red that allowed him to set a nasty snooker. He capitalised after Long failed to escape and did enough to take the frame and set up a decider.
In the final frame it was Long’s turn to pot the white but it wasn’t as devastating as it was for Allen. However, both players kept trading smaller breaks with neither able to truly get a grip on proceedings.
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And even despite playing a wonderful swerving shot Allen couldn't close out in style. But close out he eventually did, progressing to the next round.
Allen will now face Lyu Haotian, who beat Dominic Dale 4-2.
Elsewhere Tom Ford became the latest top 16 player to crash out after he went 1-0 up against Jiang Jun but quickly found himself 3-1 down, eventually losing 4-2.
Matthew Selt also made it through by beating Ricky Walden 4-3.
The remainder of the afternoon sessions saw Barry Hawkins recover from 2-0 down to claim a 4-2 victory over Jimmy Robertson.
Stephen Maguire claimed a 4-0 whitewash win over Bulcsu Revesz, while Neil Robertson dispatched Jackson Page 4-1.
There was also a big shock when Mark Williams was dumped out following a 4-1 defeat to Ben Woollaston.
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