The Masters, Mark Allen hopes to defeat Ronnie O'Sullivan
World No. 11 Mark Allen hopes to win his first match of the Ladbrokes Mobiles Masters event, which he plays against ‘the rocket’ Ronnie O’Sullivan.
Ronnie is that sort of a player, who always gets huge support from the audience and even without the support Ronnie has the capabilities to destroy any of the snooker players around.
However, the Masters this year has turned out to be an unexpected event. To one’s bewilderment all the top seeds contesting in the event have lost their first matches against the lowest ranked players. The likes of John Higgins, defending champion, Mark
Selby, Mark Williams and Ali carter, could not move ahead in the tournament and lost their early matches.
Considering this pattern, the possibility for Mark Allen to run over Ronnie is there. The semi-finalist of the UK championship, Mark Allen, hopes to win his first match against the ‘Rocket Ron’ and regain the form required to take him to the final stages
of the event.
“The defeat against John Higgins at the UK championship last month was disappointing, but I was relieved to place some great wins under my belt”, said Mark. Playing against Ronnie at a venue like Wembley can be any player’s dream, as Ronnie gets all the
support from the audience and the opponent can either be devastated or thrive on it.
If Mark Allen plans to kick on from here, he will have to bring about his Telford form.
“I remember playing against Ronnie at the World Championship, almost all the Crucible audience was on his side, so I can imagine what it would be like to play against him once again but this time at Wembley, which is considered to be Ronnie’s backyard”,
said Allen.
He further added that he has a few people coming to see him play, and that he will hoping for some neutral support too.
The 24-year-old Irish cueist has the potential to pull off an upset, and the existing patterns in the championship will support him.
Mark proclaimed that his confidence will not waver despite his encounter with the crowd-favorite and snooker’s big gun.
The partially blinded cueist has defeated the likes of John Higgins, Ronnie O’Sullivan and Steve Davis in the past. He started his professional career in a positive manner and continues to impress every now and then.
In the last year’s Masters event, Mark ousted John Higgins after defeating him in the first round of the event, he needs to keep that experience in mind and maintain the same zeal going into the match against Ronnie.
“Playing against a bigger name doesn’t alter my attitude towards the tournament; I will start off the tournament in the best possible way. I hope to win the tournament and defeat whoever comes in my way”, said Allen.
Allen had little time on his disposal to prepare for the first major event of the new snooker calendar, as during the Christmas vacations he was hit by the flu virus.
Nonetheless, the world No. 11 is back on track and after recovering from the flu he has put in a lot of hard work, practicing for the match against ‘the Rocket Ron’.
Mark Allen has been working with Terry Griffiths in order to improve his game in general and break building techniques in particular.
Mark has lost many games from a winning position, and this lack in his technical side of the game led him to work alongside the former world champion, Terry.
The Ladbrokes Mobiles Masters 2011 has been a complete stunner as not even a single match has turned out the way it was expected.
What is to be seen is whether Mark will get the better of Ronnie and send him to the side lines where he will join John Higgins, Mark Selby, Ali Carter and Mark Williams. Interestingly, all these top four seeds have lost their first matches and are out of
the event.
Can Mark knock Ronnie out in the first match and prolong the drama? It might sound difficult but not impossible, as Mark is capable of pulling off upsets by all means.
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