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Mark Allen made a 147 maximum break during his third-round match against Ben Mertens at the British Open – where he had said the table should be “burned” – before going on to book a place in the quarter-finals.
Allen won a final-frame shootout in his opening match of the tournament against Gary Wilson before describing conditions at the Centaur Arena in Cheltenham as “absolutely embarrassing”, adding “the table needs to be burned”.
The world number three – who later apologised to interviewer Rob Walker on X for his outburst – had comfortably seen off the Republic of Ireland’s Aaron Hill 4-1 in his next match to set up a showdown with Belgian Mertens.
Allen had claimed the opening frame before setting up the fourth perfect clearance of his career, which included a fine double into the middle pocket for the 10th red as he moved 2-0 ahead before closing out a 4-1 win with a 77 break.
Should no-one else equal Allen’s 147 in Cheltenham, he will take home the £5,000 high break prize.
Allen was back on the table again for the late evening session, where he overcame Chris Wakelin 4-3 to set up a clash with world number one Judd Trump in the last eight.
There had also been a maximum chance during Thursday afternoon for Thepchaiya Un-Nooh, who missed the 13th red in the first frame of his 4-3 win over Ricky Walden to reach the last 16, where he was later defeated by Mark Selby in another final-frame decider.
Selby – who had edged past China’s Yuan Sijun in round three on the final black – opened with a century break.
Un-Nooh, though, reeled off runs of 96, 86 and 79 to lead 3-2 – but Selby, a four-time world champion, fought back with another superb 115 clearance to force a deciding frame, which he claimed 75-13.
World number one Trump continued his impressive season form as he first beat Mark Davis before then booking his place in the last eight with a 4-2 win over Stephen Maguire.
Trump was chasing a 1,000 career century, but remained just one short with his highest break of 78 coming in the final frame after Maguire had made a 127.
John Higgins ended the run of Malaysia’s Rory Thor – who had knocked out former world champions Mark Williams and Neil Robertson – with a clinical 4-0 victory.
The veteran Scot, having earlier beaten Graeme Dott, will go on to play Elliot Slessor, who produced a fine display to see off reigning world champion Kyren Wilson 4-2 in the evening session, opening the match with a 128 break.
Oliver Lines coasted past Stan Moody 4-1 to secure a last-eight match up against Welshman Jak Jones, who ended the hopes of Luca Brecel, the 2023 world champion, with a 4-2 win, during which he made a break of 128.
David Gilbert will play Selby after edging out Lyu Haotian in a last-frame decider.
