Allen and Trump earn stylish wins in Masters openers

At the Snooker Masters held at Alexandra Palace, Mark Allen defeated Chinese newcomer Si Jiahui to successfully advance to the quarterfinals, following closely behind world number one Judd Trump. Allen, a left-handed player from Northern Ireland, achieved high breaks of 111, 70, 94, and 80 in the match, defeating Si Jiahui 6-2. He will face four-time world champion Mark Selby in the quarterfinals on Thursday.

Earlier on Tuesday, Trump overwhelmingly defeated his compatriot Barry Hawkins 6-1, the same opponent he defeated in the final of the UK Championship last December. The 35-year-old Trump established a 5-0 lead with breaks of 59, 60, and 56. Although Hawkins responded with a 70 break, Trump finished the match with a 112 break, securing his victory.

Two-time Masters champion Trump will face China's Ding Junhui in the quarterfinals on Friday. The first round will conclude on Wednesday, with current world champion Kyren Wilson facing Zhang Anda (13:00 GMT) and 2023 Crucible champion Luca Brecel playing against Chris Wakelin (19:00 GMT).

Allen, ranked fourth in the world, who won the Riyadh Season Snooker Championship in December, had a tough start in his first frame against Si Jiahui, which lasted over 40 minutes. Despite this, Si Jiahui produced a brilliant snooker escape that could almost contend for the best shot of the tournament. With the cue ball tight behind the blue ball, only inches from the bottom cushion, Si failed to hit either of the two remaining reds on his first two attempts, but on his third attempt he succeeded, winning cheers from the Alexandra Palace crowd.

The next five frames saw both players achieve breaks of over 60. Former World Championship semi-finalist Si Jiahui made a 103 in the second frame, while Allen immediately responded with a 111 to make the score 4-2. Allen, the 2018 Masters champion, then skillfully handled a difficult red position in the seventh frame and capitalized on Si Jiahui's miss on a simple red, securing the win with an 80 break.

Allen, who was ranked number one in the world earlier in the season, told BBC Four, “I hardly made any mistakes. It was a brilliant performance, and you have to be against a dangerous player like Si Jiahui. You want to perform well in any event, but it’s slightly easier here because you know if you don’t perform anywhere near your best, you’re going to get knocked out. In other events, when you play lower-ranked players, you might think they’ll give you some chances, but that doesn’t happen here.”

Trump was extremely precise in his victory over Hawkins, who only scored 59 points in the first five frames. In the first frame, Hawkins attempted to disrupt the pack of reds while hitting the blue, but accidentally potted a red, which was to his disadvantage. Hawkins made the same mistake again in the fourth frame, by which time Trump had completely taken control of the match.

Trump, who won the Masters in 2019 and 2023, told BBC Two, “The first frame changed the whole match. He was a bit unlucky. I didn’t see if it was a touching ball or not, but he potted it a couple of times. You have to be very careful because, without exaggerating, that changes the match. If he gets in and makes a break, he settles down, and I miss an easy ball in the next frame, then it’s 2-0 or 3-0, and it’s the other way around. The first frame was massive. Whenever I win the first frame, I seem to get momentum. Little things like that can change a match.”

Former world champion and BBC commentator John Parrott said, "It was a very dominant performance, the kind you see from a player who believes he is the world number one. Also, he expended very little energy. It was a nice 6-1 victory, you might expect to come here and have a battle to get to 6-4 or 6-5, but there was none of that. It bodes well for the rest of the tournament for him."