Mark Allen names two tournaments he’s targeting after epic English Open win

Mark Allen feels there are just two notable omissions from his snooker CV after claiming his 12th ranking title at the English Open on Sunday night.

It had actually become Monday morning when Allen beat Zhou Yuelong 9-8 in an epic final in Brentwood which was fiercely contested and came to an end at 12.20am.

The Northern Irishman was clear favourite going into the match and was proving the bookmakers right as he took a commanding 6-2 lead in the afternoon session.

Zhou, who is still looking for his first ranking title, showed excellent fight to battle back in the evening and take the lead at 8-7, coming very close to winning the match in the 16th frame.

The Pistol forced a decider, though, with a break of 71 and followed that up with a run of 61 in the final frame to help him get over the line.

The 39-year-old is now joint-tenth on the list with 12 ranking title wins, alongside Shaun Murphy, and he feels there are two tournaments that he really wants to add to his list of achievements.

The World Championship is the obvious one, as Allen is still yet to reach a Crucible final, while the other is another event he has not been to the final of, the Welsh Open.

‘I want to win as many different tournaments as I can,’ he said after claiming the English Open for the first time.

‘The Welsh Open is the only Home Nations I haven’t won. Then the World Championship. Those are the two that stand out, for me, that are missing on my CV.

‘Obviously there have been a few tournaments added, the likes of Saudi, but these ones have been longer-standing events and they’re the ones that mean the most to the players.’

Allen had been through a difficult spell in the second half of last season, struggling with his game to the point he didn’t even want to be at events.

This has been an encouraging start to the new campaign, though, following up a semi-final at the Wuhan Open with a title in Brentwood, not always by playing his best stuff but by demonstrating his immense battling abilities.

The final was Allen’s fifth straight decider, having beaten Stuart Bingham and then Ding Junhui 4-3, Elliot Slessor 5-4 and Jak Jones 6-5.

He had been 3-0 down to Ding, 4-0 behind against Slessor and trailed 5-3 to Jones, but came back to win all of those games.

‘It means a lot. To win any tournament these days is good. To do it the way I’ve done this week too, coming from behind a lot,’ he said.

‘I was absolutely shattered. I think adrenaline got me through that first session and tonight I was really tired. It is no excuse for some of the balls I missed, but I was feeling it. At 8-7 I felt something and realised it was my chance to find a bit of form.

‘I think the least you can ask for from any player is application. So many guys would have given up in some of the positions I was in this week. I think other people know now that I am never beat. That is worth a frame itself sometimes.’

Zhou has now played in four ranking finals and lost all of them, with this the closest he has come to getting his hands on a trophy.

‘I really feel for Zhou because he probably deserved that today with the character he showed from 6-2 down to get himself in that position at 8-7 up,’ said Allen.

‘On another day I don’t fluke the snooker on the green and he wins 9-7 and he probably would have deserved it at that point.

‘I think he’ll win many, many tournaments if he gets over the line soon. I’m sorry he had to be on the wrong end of it today.’

Zhou said: ‘It will give me confidence. Mark was very good in the first session. He was 6-2 up and I think I just wanted to give him some trouble this evening. I’m very happy I managed to get 8-7 up. It is a good experience and I will learn from it.’

The tour rolls straight on from Brentwood to Cheltenham for the British Open, which starts on Monday and Allen is right back into the thick of things as he starts his campaign against Jiang Jun on Tuesday.

Fans will be hoping that the incredible run of deciding frame finals continues after three straight ranking event finals went all the way for the first time in history.

Neil Robertson beat Ronnie O’Sullivan 10-9 at the Saudi Arabia Masters, then Xiao Guodong edged Gary Wilson 10-9 at the Wuhan Open before Allen’s victory in Brentwood.