The shock of the quarters was without a doubt Robert Milkins’
5-3 victory over current world champion John Higgins. The world number 38 kept
his nerve and pulled off some fantastic pots in the eight frame to secure the momentous
victory. Mark Selby faced Shaun Murphy in the afternoon session which on paper,
looked like it would be a close game but a clinical Selby managed to whitewash
Murphy 5-0 to secure a place in the semis. As expected Mark Allen dispatched
Mark King from the competition with a 5-1 win whilst Stephen Lee kept up his
recent impressive run of form with a 5-1 victory over a dejected looking Graeme
Dott.
Semi-Finals
Mark Allen’s never-say-die attitude once again proved pivotal
as for the second time this week, he performed a magnificent comeback after
looking down and out. During his last 16 match against Judd Trump he found
himself 3-0 down only to fight back and win 5-4 and he found himself in similar
circumstances against Selby. He was 5-2 down and despite Selby only needing one
more frame to book his place in the final, the Northern Irishman showed his
character and won four frames on the bounce to send The Jester from Leicester
home. In the other semi-final, Stephen Lee secured his place in the final with
a 6-2 win over Robert Milkins who has largely impressed after beating some big
names this week.
Final
Mark Allen won his first ever ranking event after a
commanding 10-1 victory over Stephen Lee. Allen was already 4-0 up at the
interval in the morning session after breaks of 104 and 127 in the second and
fourth frames respectively. He continued his dominance after the break and
despite losing the sixth frame, won the other four to hold a seemingly unassailable
8-1 lead by the end of the afternoon session. Allen took the first two frames
he required to win in the evening session and was crowned the World Open
Champion with some fantastically gritty performances that have got him there.
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