Mark Allen beats Stephen Lee to lift 2012 World Open title – Snooker news
Northern Ireland’s Mark Allen showed some impressive snooker skills at the baize in Haikou Stadium arena, Hainan to beat England’s Stephen Lee and lift his first major ranking title clinching the 2012 World Open snooker event.
The Antrim potter had a remarkable run in the Chinese snooker event and successfully made his way into the finals. He began his campaign with a splendid victory over England’s Jimmy Robertson by an easy score line of 5-1. He continued his winning streak
after he was able to claim the second round victory over the 2011 UK Championship winner, Judd Trump by a close score of 5-4.
Allen’s next opponent in the quarter-finals was Mark King of England who could not stand a chance against him and slipped down easily by 5-1 score line. The World Number one, Mark Selby was up against Allen in their semi-final clash. Selby grabbed a superb
lead of 2-5 in the first two sessions and was at the brink to oust Allen but the Pistol made a terrific comeback to defeat him by 6-5.
On the other hand, Lee started brilliantly with a whitewash win over Dominic Dale of Wales by 5-0. The Englishman faced the former World Snooker Champion Australia’s Neil Robertson in the second round and played outstandingly against him to oust him with
easy scores of 5-2. After beating the Australian, Lee grabbed a strong position in the tournament.
The Trowbridge potter moved into the quarter-final encounter against the former World Snooker Champion from Scotland, Graeme Dott. Dott appeared to be an easy opponent for the Englishman as he trashed him by 5-1 to hit the semi-final spot. The 37-year-old
Lee faced compatriot Robert Milkins in the semis who made it to the penultimate stage after beating the current champion, John Higgins. Lee-Milkins semi-final finished in favour of Lee who won by 6-2.
After viewing the progress of Lee and Allen, the snooker fans were expecting a tussling encounter at the Haikou Stadium arena but the proceedings did not finish according to the spectators’ hopes.
Lee seemed helpless against the 2011 UK Championship finalist as he cleared the table in no time and pocketed some classy breaks of 104, 50, 127, 53, 123 and 104 to hit the jackpot and win his first major ranking title by 10-1.
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