Mark Allen powers past Xiao Guodong to stamp ticket to Northern Ireland Open quarter-finals

After his struggles in seeing off Andy Lee, Mark Allen was back towards his best as he brushed aside Xiao Guodong 4-0 to book his place in the quarter-finals of the Northern Ireland Open.

Allen arrived in Belfast with pressure on his shoulders, being the home favourite and defending champion.

Allen was not scheduled to play twice in the same day, but his previous round concluded at around 1:15am.

He was extremely out of sorts in beating Lee, saying the late start and lack of clarity on start time impacted on his play.

There were no such concerns against Guodong, as he was first on in the evening session on Thursday.

Allen made a bright start and opened up a 52-point lead in the opening frame. He did not kill it off and Guodong got in and seemed favourite, but missed a green and it dropped over the right middle to allow Allen to take the opener.

Guodong went for a long red to start the second but it wriggled in the jaws and Allen made him pay a heavy price as he raced through a break of 70, demonstrating the close cue ball control that is a hallmark of his game.

There was momentum behind Guodong coming into the match, having beaten Hossein Vafaei in the previous round, but he never settled against Allen.

He had a big chance in the third after Allen failed to escape from a snooker, but he missed a black off its spot.

Allen did not punish the first mistake, but Guodong missed again and the home favourite made him pay as he eased into a three-frame cushion.

The only mistakes Allen made were when forcing balls into pockets with extra pace. That looked set to cost him the fourth frame after a yellow stayed above ground.

But Guodong was unable to convert a position of authority in the frame as he broke down on 40.

Allen stunned a glorious red into the right middle, digging down on the cue ball, and he picked off reds and colours to get back in the frame.

He laid a snooker on the final red and although Guodong made the escape, it did not go safe and Allen rolled it in before clearing the colours to seal the win.

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