Mark Allen overcame some heavy scoring from former world champion John Higgins to book his place in the quarter-finals of the Masters snooker with a 6-4 victory over the Scotsman at London's Alexandra Palace on Wednesday.
The Northern Irishman came close to matching the feat of Hong Kong's Marco Fu, who lit up the tournament on Sunday with a maximum 147 break.
But having made 120 in the ninth frame he lost position on the final yellow and saw a mid-range pot rattle the jaws before staying out of the pocket.
Former Masters champion Higgins scored 668 points in total but Allen held his nerve and emerged victorious to move into the last eight of professional snooker's leading invitational event.
"John has done most of the scoring," Allen, whose highest break of the match was 121, told BBC television.
"I have a good record against him recently and I just needed to hang in there. I stayed positive and did that.
Victory was also an early reward for Allen's decision to put himself on a diet in 2015, with the player now only taking in carbohydrates on Sundays in a bid to increase his agility round the table.
"There's certain shots out there which I can't reach, I'm too fat," he explained. "I need to lose weight."
There was an upset in Wednesday's second match when Joe Perry defeated China's Ding Junhui, Masters champion in 2007 and 2011, 6-3 with the Englishman posting the only two century breaks of the match.
Share
