On January 17, 2025, the Snooker Masters continued, and now two of the top four have emerged. Following Shaun Murphy's victory over Robertson, Mark Allen eliminated Selby 6-2. As for Chinese star Ding Junhui, he is confirmed to debut tonight in a peak showdown against world number one Judd Trump.
Born in 1986, Mark Allen has been famous for a long time. As an outstanding player among his peers, fans often refer to him as the "Sixth Tiger" of the 80s generation. Mark Allen is ranked 4th in the world and has won 11 ranking tournament titles in his career, including the UK Championship and Masters titles. Like Ding Junhui, he only lacks the World Championship title. This player's style is clean and decisive, with strong continuous scoring ability and good long-range accuracy, making him very enjoyable to watch.
His opponent is Mark Selby, born in 1983, ranked 5th in the world, who has won 23 ranking tournament titles in his career. Selby is the first player of the 80s generation in major tournaments, with as many as 9 titles in the three major events, including four World Championship titles with the highest gold content. Selby's performance in long-format matches used to be very stable, but in recent years, it has declined significantly, directly related to his playing style, which consumes a lot of personal energy and cannot be maintained consistently.
After the start of the match, Mark Allen took the lead with a single shot of 81 points in the first game. In the second game, Selby was not to be outdone, returning with a single shot of 88 points. In the third game, Mark Allen blasted a single shot of 104 points to win back a game. In the fourth game, Selbi's defense had problems, and Mark Allen seized the opportunity to clear the table, reversing with a score of 74-71. The gap from his peak period was obvious, and Selbi found it difficult to maintain focus, always making unexpected mistakes.
After the intermission, Selbi made continuous mistakes in the fifth game, and Mark Allen took multiple shots to win the tussle with a score of 69-42. In the sixth game, Selbi was about to exceed the points but was reversed again, and Mark Allen narrowly won with a score of 73-72, taking the match point first. In the seventh game, Selbi scored a single shot of 80 points, and in the eighth game, Mark Allen ended the match with a single shot of 59 points, eventually eliminating Selbi 6-2. This match took more than four hours to decide the winner.
Shaun Murphy is the first player to advance to the semi-finals, scoring single shots of 120, 90, 82, 67, and 66 points to defeat Neil Robertson 6-2. Among them, in the fifth game, Robertson led 66-1 but was cleared by Murphy to reverse the score to 67-66. It was a pity that Murphy missed the opportunity to hit a single shot of 147 points in the eighth game. Next, Mark Allen will face Shaun Murphy, two former Masters champions, to compete for a place in the final.
From January 17 to 18, there will be another two quarter-finals at 21:00 with Ding Junhui vs. Trump and at 3:00 with Kyren Wilson vs. Luca Brecel. After the elimination of Si Jiahui and Zhang Anda, Ding Junhui remains the only hope for Chinese players. Facing the world's number one, we look forward to a surprise appearance.