Allen Reigns in Riyadh
Mark Allen won his first title of the season and equalled the biggest pay-day of his career by beating Luca Brecel 5-1 in the final of the Riyadh Season Snooker Championship in Saudi Arabia.
Arguably snooker’s toughest match player, Allen scored a superb 4-2 win over defending champion Ronnie O’Sullivan in the semi-finals and went on to outplay last year’s World Champion Brecel in the final to land his first trophy since the Players Championship nine months ago. The £250,000 top prize at this lucrative 12-man invitation event matches the cheque Allen received at the 2022 UK Championship.
It’s his seventh title within the last 26 months, and though it carries no ranking points, coming through such a strong field will give the 38-year-old Northern Irishman a huge boost of confidence going into 2025. Having recently turned to coach Lee Walker to make subtle changes to his technique, the world number four carries plenty of momentum into the new year.
Allen’s form was tracking in a positive direction in recent weeks, and having suffered narrow defeats in the semi-finals of the recent Victorian Plumbing UK Championship and BetVictor Scottish Open, today was the breakthrough he was looking for.
During the three-day event in Riyadh, no player managed to pot the golden ball which is unique to this tournament and earn the $1 million prize for a 167 ‘super maximum’ – Zhang Anda came closest when he took 12 reds with blacks on the opening day. But local crowds thoroughly enjoyed the chance to see the world’s leading stars in action, and with O’Sullivan’s academy now fully operational in the heart of the Kingdom’s capital city, there is a sense that snooker’s popularity is growing fast.
The opening frame of the final came down to the colours and was settled when Allen, down 25 points, missed the green to a bauk corner, leaving Brecel the chance to go 1-0 up. The Belgian led 49-0 in the second when he missed a tricky red to a top corner, and that proved a turning point as Allen made a 104 for 1-1, then dominated frame three and compiled a 109 in the fourth to lead 3-1 at the interval.
In frame five, Brecel made 43 then ran out of position, and Allen responded with 50 then later got the better of a safety exchange on the last red and went on to extend his advantage to 4-1. The sixth came down to a safety battle with three reds on the table and Allen, trailing 36-32, drilled a red down a side cushion into a top corner, the shot of the tournament, to initiate a match-winning run of 31.
“To win an event with the top ten players in the world is extra special,” said Allen. “My safety was good all week, I scored well and made the right choices. I was nervous at the end but I held myself together. The matches here are short so if you can steal a few frames you can hurt your opponent. Winning the second frame tonight with a good break gave me the confidence to go on.
“I worked with Lee Walker at the UK Championship, I’m not sure yet where I will go with that. I am trying to play faster and enjoy it more. There was a time when I was winning matches and even winning tournaments but not enjoying the way I was playing and I knew something had to change. Partly the work with Lee and partly figuring it out for myself, as well as working with my psychologist, has helped me feel like everything is coming together.
“Next year I want to keep winning and enjoying my snooker. There are big tournaments coming up, leading up to Sheffield. The world title is the one missing from my CV and that’s what I will keep working for. The money here is great but I wasn’t thinking about that, I just try to win tournaments.
“You could see the difference here compared to when we came in March, crowds were better. It’s like when we first went to China, it will take time to build up. As long as we keep coming back here and getting bigger crowds, it will be great for the players.”
Brecel, who missed the chance to win his first title since his Crucible triumph 19 months ago, said: “I made a few mistakes but Mark is really tough to play against. Overall I feel I’m getting better and I’m really looking forward to next year.”
