Mark Allen and Mark Selby both impressed in comfortable first-round wins at this year’s Masters but their quarter-final clash looks set to be a much more competitive affair and could go all the way.
Both men have won this event before, three times for Selby and once for Allen, and they would love to lift the Paul Hunter Trophy again this year.
Over 9.5 frames - 10/11
Mark Selby was a dominant 6-1 winner over Ali Carter in his first-round contest, notching two centuries and a break of 93 in a smooth success over the Captain.
His game looks in as good a shape as it has for some time, he has won 37 of the 52 matches he has played on tour this season, and he has been installed as favourite for this clash with Allen as a result.
Northern Irishman Allen barely put a foot wrong in his first-round win either, winning three frames on the spin at 3-2 to wrap up a 6-2 victory over dangerous youngster Si Jiahui, making breaks of 111, 94, 80 and 70 in the process.
Now the duo face off in what looks like the most intriguing quarter-final clash at this year’s tournament.
Allen is fresh from winning the Riyadh Season Championship and has reached the semi-finals of the UK Championship, Scottish Open, Champion of Champions and British Open in what has been an impressive season for the Pistol.
Selby has lifted the British Open crown and also reached the last four of the Shoot Out and the Shanghai Masters.
This pair met four times in the calendar year of 2024, with Allen edging three of those four encounters, but there was little to split them in most of those meetings.
In fact, six of the last seven meetings between these two have been decided by two frames or less, including a mammoth 17-15 win for the Jester from Leicester in the semi-final of the 2023 World Snooker Championship.
The pair also met in the Masters 12 months ago, with Allen beating Selby 6-5 in a final-frame decider, and this match going the distance once again is well within the realms of possibility.
Whoever wins this clash would go off favourite in a semi-final against either Neil Robertson or Shaun Murphy, so the pair will be desperate to get one over on the other in front of the Alexandra Palace crowd.
Allen and Selby are ranked fourth and fifth in the world respectively and there may be equally little to split the pair in what looks set to be the game of the tournament so far. Take over 9.5 frames in what could be a real marathon battle.
Mark Allen over 0.5 first session centuries - 7/4
Key to Allen’s recent burst of form has been his heavy scoring and he could pick up where he left off last time out in this quarter-final clash.
Between the Scottish Open and Riyadh Season Championship, the Pistol made 11 centuries in 54 frames and immediately set the tone against Si Jiahui in the first round of the Masters with breaks of 74 and 127 in the first three frames of that match.
As a result, Allen’s price to make a century in the first session of play in this quarter-final is tempting, particularly given the fact that he has been scoring so heavily recently.
The world number four is fancied to produce an early moment of magic in this game.
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Mark Allen - 6/5
Mark Selby - 4/6
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