Mark Allen insists he has been the most consistent player on tour this season – and wants to hammer home that message by beating Ding Junhui in Sunday’s UK Championship final.
The 36-year-old from Northern Ireland has already defended his home tournament title in Belfast in the current campaign, and also reached the final of the British Open but lost to Ryan Day.
A dramatic late-night win on Saturday on the final black to edge out Jack Lisowski 6-5 and break the Jackpot’s heart has propelled world number nine Allen into his third consecutive ranking-event showpiece – a rare feat on today’s highly competitive professional circuit.
Allen, with seven ranking titles in all to his name, has already won one of the game’s three majors at the Masters, but lost both of his two UK finals to Judd Trump and Ronnie O’Sullivan. And he is top of this year's money list, though Ding will leapfrog him if he wins.
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A rejuvenated Ding, going for a fourth UK crown, represents a stiff test but Allen is looking to not only satisfy his own burning ambition but also by winning the bumper £250,000 first prize leave no one in any doubt who is the pack leader this season.
Allen said: “I will need to improve on how I played against Jack and how I have played all week against Ding – but I am still here. So I have done better than 142 of those who entered this tournament. I am doing lots of things well, just not quite well enough. And this final against Ding will be the ultimate test, because he has looked back to his best over the week.
“He is chasing a fourth UK crown, but I will be giving it everything. You don’t produce your best more than a few times a season, and what the very best players who win most of the titles do is win with their B and C games, and I am doing that a lot more this season. It is something I have had to learn.
“And so I am going out there feeling I don’t have to play my best to win, because I am in such a good place mentally and ready regardless how my game is in any given match. Winning breeds winning.
“The only disappointing thing from my point of view is that this is my third ranking final in a row, but if I lose on Sunday with the top heavy nature of the money list for this tournament Ding would be the season’s No1. And he has done nothing else this season.
“That’s why myself and other players have been crying out for the system to be changed back to a points based system, because there is no doubt that win or lose on Sunday I have been the most consistent player this season. However unless I win, I’ll be No2. So that’s what I will look to do.
“It would mean everything to win this title after losing in the final twice before – let’s not sugar-coat it. These are the ones I want to win. You don’t grow up as a young boy dreaming of winning the Antwerp Open, like I have won in the past. You want to win these ones, and anything other than the title now will make it a disappointing week.
“I don’t think I have played that well this week – but mentally I have stayed very strong, and it was the same against Jack in the semi-final. He was the better player in the match and deserved to be in the final, and that one is going to hurt him, and be a sore loss.
“He has just has to find a way of winning the most important matches, because talent only gets you so far.
“And I say that with the greatest respect for Jack because he is a class player, but he hasn’t done it just yet in these biggest tournaments. I always felt there was a chance he might miss, and he did, and I cleared up to win on the black. His time will come.
“In the last frame we both had chances to win. When he left the free ball I knew I had to take the green on but it was a horrible shot and when I missed it I thought I had lost. Fortunately I got a couple more chances.
“And after potting that last black I didn’t want to celebrate too early because I felt like Jack was the better player and I didn’t want to be disrespectful. But once the handshakes were done and the words were said, I felt that was the time to let up some of the pent-up frustration after a poor performance. To get over the line and be in that UK final is a big deal, what we are here to do.”
A desperately disappointed Lisowski said after losing on the very last ball: “I was 5-3 up and then he potted a four-ball plant from the pack and made a century. I missed a long one in the next and he one-visited again. And the last frame I was just really poor. I made a good break to get back into it and was just really rubbish at the end.
“I am very disappointed, I don’t feel I played very well at all and his safety was better than mine at the crucial moments in that deciding frame. I don’t know why, it just wasn’t good enough. And it’s back to the drawing board for me.
“It was a step in the right direction with it being my first Triple Crown semi-final but I just losy my concentration at the end and I don’t know what happened really. I am gutted, but I have somehow got to keep my head up. I can’t give up. I am learning. I am a slow learner, but I am learning.”
*18+ | BeGambleAware | Odds Subject to Change
