Players Championship snooker: Mark Allen explains why he wants rival Mark Selby to lose semi-final – 'Hard to stop'

ByEurosport

Updated 24/02/2024 at 10:32 GMT

Mark Allen has revealed why he does not want to see Mark Selby reach the final of the Players Championship in Telford on Sunday. The world No. 3 completed a 6-3 win over Ali Carter on Friday to reach his third final of the season, but admitted his preference is a meeting with Zhang Anda. Zhang and Selby do battle in the second semi-final on Saturday night in the chase for a £125,000 first prize.

Allen makes Masters maximum 147 break against Selby

Mark Allen booked his place in the Players Championship final with a battling 6-3 win over Ali Carter on Friday evening then explained why wants to face Zhang Anda in the showpiece match.

Allen and Carter shared the first six frames in Telford with Champion of Champions winner Allen producing 108 in the third frame and Masters finalist Carter hitting 106 and three 50-plus breaks to restore parity at 3-3.

But the Northern Irishman claimed the final three frames boosted by further runs of 73 and 65 to reach Sunday's best-of-19 frame final with a £125,000 top prize on the table from the elite 16-player ranking event.

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Allen admits he would rather meet Zhang in the final after watching Selby produce his best display of the season on Thursday night with a quickfire 6-0 demolition of world No. 1 Ronnie O'Sullivan.

International champion Zhang led John Higgins 5-1, but was forced to hold off a spirited comeback by Selby's fellow four-time world champion in Friday's final quarter-final to edge through 6-4 to his third career ranking semi-final.

"I think Mark Selby has always been the toughest opponent on the professional circuit," said Anda. "He has the best all-round game and there's no weakness in his game. It's a style of playing that is more difficult to deal with, as he's good at attacking and defending."

Selby has yet to win a tournament this season, with his 10-7 defeat to Mark Williams in the British Open final in October his best performance of the campaign.

“From a completely selfish point of view, I’d rather play Zhang Anda," said Allen, who lost an epic World Championship semi-final 17-15 to Selby last April after trailing 16-10. "Just because that keeps Selby’s losing streak going a little longer.

"If he gets on a winning run he is hard to stop, as we’ve seen in the past. Looking at the Tour Championship, China and the World Championship, you want someone like Selby’s confidence to be as low as possible."

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Allen hit an iconic 147 in a 6-5 win over Selby in the Masters quarter-finals last month before losing to 6-3 Carter in the last four, a result he reversed at the Telford International Centre.

“I don’t want to come here and finish second, that would be disappointing," said the Antrim man, who is provisionally ranked world No. 1 in the end-of-season rankings.

"I’ve ticked a few boxes this week. I’ve tried something different, it wasn’t quite working today, but I stuck with it."