Mark Allen won his first match at the German Masters for seven years before admitting he's not a fan of the venue.
The Antrim cue star has spectacularly failed to fire at the Berlin-based event and hates the unique layout of the Tempodrom.
But former Masters champion Allen raced into a second round date with Shaun Murphy after a convincing 5-1 victory over China’s Lyo Haotian.
The world No.12 groaned:“I’m not a massive fan of the set up. I don’t think it lends itself to great snooker.
“If you’re not on table one I just find it pretty distracting. You’ve got people sat right at your table watching table one.
“The lighting’s not very good if you’re playing shots towards table one as well.
“All in all I’m just happy to win because I don’t see that changing anytime soon. You have to just get on with it.
"It’s a really well supported event and the crowds come out for it so it’s good in that aspect."
The reigning Northern Ireland Open champion impressed with breaks of 86, 107, 106 and 63 as he booked his spot in the last 16 for the first time since 2015.
This week’s event marks snooker’s first outside of the UK since the Covid-19 pandemic started two years ago.
“It’s great to be back travelling for tournaments and hopefully it’s a sign of things to come,” added Allen, who plays either Murphy on Friday night.
“I’m not surprised it’s been so long since I’ve won here, I thought it might have been longer!
“It’s not often I win many matches here in Berlin so any win’s a good one.
“I played steady. It was nothing spectacular, but I didn’t give him anything easy.”
