Mark Allen versus Matthew Stevens – 2011 Betfred.com World Snooker Championship Preview
Mark Allen and Matthew Stevens are set to meet in the first round of 2011 Betfred.com World Snooker Championship, which is going to be staged from 16 April to 3 May, at the Crucible Theatre, Sheffield, England.
It is going to be a fascinating match, as these two players love to play at the Crucible Theatre and like to chase a win. Both players have interesting head-to-head record, as before this season they had clashed with each other only three
times in a professional competition but this season they have faced each other six times.
Their first meeting was in the 2006 World Champion, at the Crucible Theatre and it was Stevens who outplayed the debutant in the last-32 by a frame score of 13-9. Their second meeting came at the start of 2009-10 and once again it was the Welshman
who came out victorious by a frame score of 5-2. However, Allen turned the tables in their third meeting, which came during the Welsh Open.
During this season the Irishman and the Welshman have been one-on-one six times. Though all of their clashes came during the Championship League, both players shared three wins each to demonstrate how evenly matched they are. So the overall head-to-head
record between Allen and Stevens is 4-5.
As far as their Crucible history is concerned, the world number eleven, Allen, has appeared four times before; in 2007, 2008, 2009 and 2010 and it is going to be his fifth facade. His best performance came during the 2009 World Championship where
he made it to the semi-final before losing out John Higgins by a frame score of 17-13.
On the other hand, the world number eighteen, Matthew Stevens, has participated eleven times before and this will be his twelfth appearance. Moreover, he has reached the finals two times during the 2000 and 2005 World Championship. So his credentials
for playing at the home of snooker are far better than his opponent.
It was also not a good season for Allen this year. He chose not to appear in the first three PTC events and later suffered opening round defeats at both the Shanghai Masters and World Open tournaments. His strong performance came during the UK
Championship and the Master where he made it to the semi-finals before losing out to John Higgins and Marco Fu respectively. Since then the 25-year-old has been found gathering himself, as he suffered defeats in the last-32 at the German Masters and China
Open.
The Welsh Dragon, Stevens, on the other hand has had a great season so far. He won all of his seven qualifying matches for the full ranking events. Moreover, he also performed well during the PTC and eventually finished in the semi-final of the
PTC Grand Finals. He also made it to the quarter-finals of both the Shanghai Masters and Welsh Open. The 33-years-old didn’t finish here, as he also won went on to clinch the Championship League title at Crondon Park.
Keeping all the statistics in mind, it is fair to say that the Welshman, Steven, is going to be the favourite one for the match here. However nothing can be said for sure, as both players have the ability to produce a match-winning performance
at any stage of the game.
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