Allen Turns Around 'Embarrassing' Crucible Display With Brilliant Second-Session Blitz to Beat Zhang Anda
A Night Out, a Burger, and a 140: Allen Regroups to Reach Last 16
Mark Allen arrived at the Crucible on Sunday morning having spent Saturday evening doing what most recreational snooker fans might do after a poor performance — having drinks with friends, placing a few bets, and watching football. The difference was that Allen, ranked inside the world's top 16, had just posted one of the most subdued first-session displays of his career in a World Championship match. By the end of Sunday's second session, he had delivered one of the most emphatic recoveries of the first round.
The Northern Ireland player, a former world number one, trailed China's Zhang Anda 5-3 after Saturday's opening session without registering a single break of 50 or above. He described the performance as "absolutely embarrassing." Speaking after closing out a 10-6 victory, Allen was candid: "I was so frustrated yesterday — I've been doing things so well on the practice table, being in the gym and eating well. After that match yesterday I just went out and had a few drinks and a burger. I thought, 'I can't play any worse than yesterday'. I was so down on myself, I didn't want to talk to anyone."
A 140 Clearance Sets the Tone
Whatever the restorative properties of a burger and a night's sleep, the impact on Allen's game was immediate and measurable. He opened Sunday's session with a clearance of 140, a break that required precision under pressure with a two-frame deficit still to close. A 109 followed to level the match at 5-5, and the momentum never shifted back to Zhang. Allen's third century in five frames — a 129 — moved him to within one frame of victory, which he subsequently clinched with a break of 81. In those final six frames, Zhang managed just 42 points in aggregate, a figure that illustrates the total dominance Allen exerted across the back half of the contest.
The 40-year-old's four-break scoring sequence of 140, 109, 129, and 81 across the second session represents a significant upturn from a first session in which he failed to trouble the half-century mark. For context, Allen has compiled over 400 century breaks in professional competition (CueTracker), and his calibre across those closing frames was entirely consistent with that record. Zhang, who has now lost at the first-round stage on all six of his Crucible appearances, had shown resilience in edging the first session but could not sustain a challenge once Allen rediscovered his fluency.
Williams Cruises Past History-Making Kowalski
Elsewhere in the draw, three-time world champion Mark Williams continued his remarkable late-career renaissance with a composed 10-4 defeat of Antoni Kowalski, the first Polish player in history to qualify for the World Championship. At 22 years old, Kowalski is the same age as Williams' eldest child — a detail the Welshman acknowledged with characteristic dry wit after the match.
Williams, who turned 51 in March and claimed a ranking title earlier this season to become the oldest player to win a ranking event on the professional tour, led 6-3 overnight and needed just three more frames on Sunday to advance. Breaks of 65 and 115 put him on the brink before he sealed the 14th frame on the black. The margin of victory was commanding, though Williams was measured in his post-match assessment: "I won 10-4 but it was closer than the scoreline suggests. He started off like a train and it could have been 2-0."
Williams was generous in his appraisal of the debutant. "He is a cracking potter and with a little bit of experience he is definitely one to watch out for," the 2025 runner-up said. That assessment aligns with what Kowalski's qualification alone suggested — reaching the Crucible for the first time is no modest achievement — though the gulf in experience at this stage of a major was evident across the match. Williams, who has appeared at the World Championship more than 30 times, is a difficult opening opponent for any qualifier on the Sheffield stage.
Williams Sets Up Hawkins Clash; Allen Awaits Last-16 Draw
Williams' reward for advancing is a second-round meeting with Barry Hawkins, who progressed via a 10-4 victory over fellow Welshman Matthew Stevens. Hawkins, the 2013 runner-up, has considerable Crucible pedigree and will provide a sterner examination than Kowalski offered. Allen, meanwhile, advances to the last 16 and will look to build on the form he rediscovered in Sunday's second session — form that, on the evidence of those four breaks, suggests the difficult first session may have been an outlier rather than a trend.
Whether the burger and the football deserve any analytical credit is perhaps a question best left unanswered.
