Mark Allen feels “cursed” after his chase for snooker’s bumper £150,000 Euro Series bonus came to a shuddering halt at the Welsh open.
The World No 3 suffered a painful 5-1 quarter-final defeat to Robert Milkins as his hopes for a fourth ranking title of the season went up in smoke on Friday night.
And with defeat, the Pistol missed out on the tasty £150,000 payday bonus by the skin of his teeth for the second year running.
Read more: Mark Allen vows to 'not be human and say absolutely nothing' after fine
Last season he was pipped at the post by Scottish four-time world champion John Higgins and victory over Milkins last night would have seen him scoop the tidy windfall.
UK champion Allen, who was declared bankrupt last year, reflected: “Maybe I’m cursed with this bonus!
“Last year I finished level with John and lost on count back. How is that fair?
“Look, the money doesn’t matter to me. I’m on a set wage now because of the financial mistakes I made in the past.
“People will look at that performance and think it’s because of the money I was playing for, but that wasn’t the case.
“Nothing against Ali Carter, but I hope he doesn’t win it whilst sitting at home. It would be nice to see Rob or Joe O’Connor win the bonus now.”
Allen fought right to the very end in a scrappy match, where the top break was just 42, but was ultimately sent packing.
“It was just a flat performance from start to finish really from me,” admitted Allen.
“I just couldn’t get anything going. It’s no excuse because I’ve been absolutely hammered there, but table one has been difficult to play on all week.
“I just have to dust myself down and get ready for next week now.”
Meanwhile, world champion and world No 1 Ronnie O’Sullivan suffered a rare 5-0 whitewash to China’s Tian Pengfei, who will play in his first ranking semi-final today.
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