Matthew Stevens leads Mark Allen 5-4 after first session: Betfred.com World Snooker Championship 2011
Welsh potter Matthew Stevens held a one-frame lead over Mark Allen on Tuesday night in the first session of their last-32 match at the Betfred.com World Snooker Championship 2011 in Sheffield. The match-up was a treat for the spectators as both cuemen produced
a brilliant display of snooker at the arena.
The contest was a topsy-turvy affair which was evenly poised at 5-4 after the first session. Allen got off the mark in the first-frame with a 7-50 lead over the Welshman, but in the end it was Stevens who grabbed the frame victory at 59-50, after he smashed
a superb half century break of 52.
The struggling Allen responded in the very next frame with a stunning near-century clearance of 99 to pull level at 1-1 with the frame score of 14-99. Allen’s performance in the first two frames seemed to quash all the speculations about his mental state.
Before the championships, it was revealed that Allen had been suffering from depression for a year, and was getting help from doctors.
However, he continued with his good form in the match, and grabbed an early lead in the third frame at 22-53. Soon after, he missed shot which allowed Stevens to clinch the frame at 76-53, after pocketing a sensational half-century clearance of 54 to regain
the lead.
The 33-year-old Stevens has been in outstanding form this season. In the Snooker Championship League 2011, he played brilliantly with his superb break building techniques, and clinched the tournament victory after beating Shaun Murphy 3-1 in the final of
the Winners’ Group.
Allen came out strongly in the fourth frame with a rattling clearance of 91, which allowed him to take the frame in one visit at 0-91. He followed that up by taking the fifth frame 9-117 after managing a solid 86 break to lead by 3-2 for the first time in
the match.
However, Allen was once again put under pressure by the in-form Welshman, Stevens, who took the sixth frame by a 60-39 score line to pull level at 3-3. A couple of decent small breaks from the 25-year-old Allen in the seventh frame gave him a 4-3 lead after
he won the frame 38-73.
However, the see-saw battle ended at 5-4, after Stevens swept the table with back-to-back frame wins with frame scores of 78-33 and 70-42 respectively before the end of the first session. The second session of the match will resume today (Wednesday) at the
Crucible Theatre not before 7pm.
So far the match has seen some exceptional snooker with both players displaying strong potting skills, and it seems that it will continue to be closely contested until the end. However, both cueists are tied in terms of head-to-head meetings. They have faced
each other in eight matches so far with both players winning four matches each.
However, keeping in mind their performances in the current season, Stevens has a better chance of winning since his match-winning rate of 68.3 percent is better than that of Allen’s, which is 55.9 percent.
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