English Open: Mark Allen defeats Lyu Haotian in sparkling display to set up John Higgins last 16 clash

ByBen Southby

Updated 19/09/2024 at 00:13 GMT+1

Mark Allen will face four-time world champion John Higgins in the last 16 of the English Open in Brentwood after a convincing comeback performance against Chinese player Lyu Haotian on Wednesday. Allen had to battle from 2-1 down before he claimed a 4-2 win in style. Elsewhere, Chris Wakelin sealed a 4-1 win over Zhang Anda, while He Guoqiang continued his dream English Open campaign.

Mark Allen came from behind to beat Lyu Haotian 4-2 in an impressive display and reach the last 16 of the English Open in Brentwood.

After going ahead, Allen had to fight from 2-1 down, but from that point, hardly put a foot wrong as he sealed the victory to set up a mouth-watering tie against John Higgins for a place in the quarter-finals.

Allen secured a comfortable opening frame with a break of 71, and despite making a handful of errors in the second frame, Lyu clawed himself level.

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An intriguing third frame followed as the pair engaged in some long safety play before the reds opened up nicely for Allen. 

The Pistol moved 60-26 ahead and looked certain to restore his lead, but rattled the jaws of the green pocket and handed Lyu the chance to steal the frame.

The 26-year-old returned to the baize but when the opportunity of a missable double presented itself, he chose to ignore it and instead, the pair resumed their earlier safety battle.

Allen eventually caught the black with the final red, and once more Lyu was in pole position to move 2-1 ahead, which he duly did after a faultless clearance of the colors, which looked tricky.

Allen responded brilliantly to going behind and fired in a prolific break of 52 in the following frame to pull back level, and then moved up a gear with another superb visit. He put together a run of 75 to restore his lead and move to within one frame of the next round.

The sixth frame was far from comfortable for a frustrated Allen, who found himself challenged by a tough escape after knocking in a long red, which left the cue ball protected by eight reds.

On his fourth try, he finally found the yellow with a brilliant attempt which left the white right up against the top rail, and he continued his sparkling form since going 2-1 behind – in a frame he should not have conceded – to wrap up the match in style.

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Elsewhere, a prolific Chris Wakelin fired in breaks of 126, 86 and 83 to overcome Zhang Anda, who registered a match-high run of 136 and fell just short of a maximum break.

Wakelin won 4-1 to move into the last 16 and set up a tie against Pang Junxu, who earlier beat 2023 world champion Luca Brecel 4-3.

Anda's compatriot, He Guoqiang, who knocked out the legendary Ronnie O'Sullivan earlier in the tournament, thrashed Scotland's Stephen Maguire 4-1 after making back-to-back 90+ breaks.

Robertson overcomes Murphy as Hawkins enjoys whitewash win

Neil Robertson saved his best break until last to eliminate Shaun Murphy with a comfortable 4-1 win in a highly-anticipated last-32 clash in Brentwood.

The Australian took an early 2-0 lead in what was the pair's first meeting in a Home Nations event.

Robertson saves 'best break for last' to seal win over Murphy

Video credit: TNT Sports

Murphy then trailed by three frames but fired in a 124-point break to avoid a whitewash.

Despite the Englishman's impressive efforts to stay in contention, Robertson capped off a productive evening with a break of 71 to move into the last 16.

Robertson credits new approach for victory over Murphy

Video credit: TNT Sports

The Australian could not quite seal the perfect result, but that was not the case in Barry Hawkins' encounter with Xu Si, as the world No. 18 landed an impressive 4-0 triumph.

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