England’s Stephen Lee sets up Mark Allen clash in 2012 World Open final after beating Robert Milkins
England’s Stephen Lee grabbed an easy victory over compatriot Robert Milkins in the semi-final encounter of the 2012 World Open snooker tournament at the Haikou Stadium arena in the Hainan Island.
The Englishman is now ready to take on the Northern Irishman, Mark Allen in the final clash of the event. Allen fought back into the semi-final match against the World Number one, Mark Selby and defeated him by the score of 6-5 to book the semi-final spot.
Lee will have one of the strongest opponents in the final clash and he has to be careful against him.
The Lee-Milkins semi-final match seemed a tussling game at the end of first session as both potters finished the session at 2-2 level. However, after the first interval, Lee did not let Milkins come at the table and trouble him anymore. Lee swept the baize
in the next session and took four consecutive racks to hit the jackpot.
Speaking to the World Snooker after his victory, Lee said, “I'm quietly confident and that comes from playing week in, week out and I wouldn't be here if I didn't think I could win it. I had a semi-final in the German Masters and Ding beat me in the quarter-finals
of the Welsh so I came here off the back of that and I've played some good stuff this week and I finished off tonight with a couple of good frames.”
The 37-year-old added, “It's a cracking place to be in and it's been a long time coming for myself but I found it very tough playing six ranking events in a season as that was too much pressure on my shoulders.”
Both Lee and Allen have played against each other before a few times. The odds between the pair, after facing each other in eight matches, are at 4-4 level.
However, Allen will have a psychological advantage over Allen because the Northern Irishman has performed brilliantly in the tournament and is on the top of his form right now which will be quite tough for Lee to cope with.
Meanwhile, Lee must be pretty confident after trashing Milkins by a noticeable margin of frames and will be looking forward to give Allen the toughest time in the finals.
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