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January 23, 2018

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鈥楥alm鈥 Allen wins Masters

Mark Allen said he felt 鈥渃almer as the match went on鈥 after seeing off the challenge of a spirited Kyren Wilson to seal his first Masters title with a 10-7 victory at London鈥檚 Alexandra Palace.

The world No. 8 was matched for much of Sunday鈥檚 contest by his fellow first-time finalist before edging away to lift the Paul Hunter trophy and pocket 拢200,000 (US$278,000) in prize money.

It was 40 years since Alex Higgins won his first Masters title and Northern Ireland鈥檚 Allen, who beat former champions Ronnie O鈥橲ullivan and John Higgins on his way to the final, followed in the footsteps of his countryman after a marathon match lasting five hours and 14 minutes.

Allen, who put on a Northern Ireland football shirt for his post-match press conference, said: 鈥淲eirdly, I felt calmer as the match went on, I felt more at ease with myself. You鈥檙e never going to win one of these Triple Crown events easily and that was the test, it would have been easy to crumble.

鈥淚t means so much to me, that鈥檚 what I play the game for. It would鈥檝e been devastating to get so close and not win it so very, very pleased,鈥 he added.

The match was arguably the biggest contest in the careers of both men and the nerves showed across two edgy and even sessions.

Wilson, the first player born in the 1990s to appear in a Triple Crown final, had never won a match at the invitational tournament before this year and he threatened to complete a remarkable story before falling agonisingly short.


 

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