Jack Lisowski v Mark Allen: Prediction, Tips and Odds

Jack Lisowski and Mark Allen will face off in a potential blockbuster UK Championship quarter-final at the York Barbican on Friday.

World number 21 Lisowski is arguably one of the best players never to win a ranking event, but he does tend to save his best form for the big tournaments and has already seen off Mark Selby and Ali Carter to reach this stage.

Next up for Jack-pot is a clash with 2022 UK champion Allen, who has battled past Jackson Page and Wu Yize to take his spot in the quarter-finals.

Jack Lisowski v Mark Allen betting tips and predictions

Match To Go To A Deciding Frame - Yes - 11/4

Lisowski is a former top-10 player and has been touted as a winner of major tournaments throughout his career, but he is yet to land a ranking title, while the last of his six finals came at the Gibraltar Open over three years ago.

Many believe it is a case of when and not if the 33-year-old breaks his duck and he could well end up landing one of the big ones, with his record at Triple Crown events proving particularly impressive.

This will be Jack-pot's fourth quarter-final appearance at the UK Championship in the last five years, but he has only won one of those previous three matches in the last eight and that came when he emphatically beat Shaun Murphy 6-1 in 2022.

That set up a memorable semi-final showdown with Allen, who battled back from 5-3 down to win 6-5 and deny Lisowski what would have been his first final in a Triple Crown event.

Allen went on to land the UK title that year, beating Ding Junhui in the final, one of 11 ranking-event successes the world number three has to his name.

This will be the 12th time that Lisowski and Allen have met in their careers and the head-to-head is tight, with the former holding a slender 6-5 advantage.

Of those 11 previous meetings, six have been decided by just one frame, while the two previous times they have locked horns over a best-of-11 format, including their UK semi-final clash two years ago, it has finished 6-5 one way or the other.

While neither player has gone to a deciding frame at this year's tournament, all four of their matches have finished 6-4, with Lisowski seeing off Selby and Murphy in that manner, while Allen beat Page and Wu, coming from 4-2 down to overcome the latter.

This may only be Lisowski's second quarter-final of the season, but he has shown in his opening two matches in York that he is in form and can be the match for anyone on his day.

With that in mind and given meetings between these two tend to be tight, it could be worth backing this contest to go the distance, bringing with it the drama of a deciding frame.

Over 1.5 Match Centuries - 6/4

When his back was against the wall against Wu in the previous round, Allen showed plenty of attacking endeavour, producing two century breaks and knocks of 80 and 73 across the final four frames to take his place in the quarter-finals.

The Northern Irishman should look to take that momentum and break-building form into this match against Lisowski, who always tends to play with the handbrake off.

Lisowski has recorded a century in each of his opening two matches in York and he has 22 three-figure breaks to his name for the season, the same amount as Allen.

When these two players last met at the World Grand Prix in January there were three century breaks made, all by Allen, and while there was only one three-figure knock in that 2022 UK Championship semi-final clash, there were a further eight half centuries.

Given the break-building quality of both of these players, there is every chance that, between them, they can rack up at least two centuries on Friday.

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Jack Lisowski v Mark Allen odds

Jack Lisowski - 11/10
Mark Allen - 8/11

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This article was written by a partner sports writer via Spotlight Sports Group. All odds displayed on this page were correct at the time of writing and are subject to withdrawal or change at any time.