Players Championship snooker: Mark Allen explains why he wants rival Mark Selby to lose semi-final – ‘Hard to stop’

Allen and Carter shared the first six frames in Telford with Champion of Champions winner Allen producing 108 in the third frame and Masters finalist Carter hitting 106 and three 50-plus breaks to restore parity at 3-3.

But the Northern Irishman claimed the final three frames boosted by further runs of 73 and 65 to reach Sunday’s best-of-19 frame final with a £125,000 top prize on the table from the elite 16-player ranking event.

“I think Mark Selby has always been the toughest opponent on the professional circuit,” said Anda. “He has the best all-round game and there’s no weakness in his game. It’s a style of playing that is more difficult to deal with, as he’s good at attacking and defending.”

Selby has yet to win a tournament this season, with his 10-7 defeat to Mark Williams in the British Open final in October his best performance of the campaign.

“From a completely selfish point of view, I’d rather play Zhang Anda,” said Allen, who lost an epic World Championship semi-final 17-15 to Selby last April after trailing 16-10. “Just because that keeps Selby’s losing streak going a little longer.

“If he gets on a winning run he is hard to stop, as we’ve seen in the past. Looking at the Tour Championship, China and the World Championship, you want someone like Selby’s confidence to be as low as possible.”

Allen hit an iconic 147 in a 6-5 win over Selby in the Masters quarter-finals last month before losing to 6-3 Carter in the last four, a result he reversed at the Telford International Centre.

“I’ve ticked a few boxes this week. I’ve tried something different, it wasn’t quite working today, but I stuck with it.”