Players Championship snooker 2023: Joe O’Connor stuns Mark Allen to reach quarter-finals

Joe O’Connor shocked high seed Mark Allen in an enormous upset on the opening day of the 2023 Gamers Championship in Wolverhampton.

The 27-year-old was the lowest-ranked participant within the draw however backed up his run to the English Open closing in December – a run that included wins over Neil Robertson, Mark Williams and Zhao Xintong – with a superb 6-3 victory over the UK Championship and Northern Eire Open champion.

With Ronnie O’Sullivan and Robertson amongst these failing to qualify for the showpiece event at Aldersley Leisure Village, Allen headed into the occasion amongst a small group of favourites additionally containing Judd Trump and Mark Selby.

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However he was left to rue sloppy positional play as he repeatedly didn’t convert a flurry of openings into one-visit frames, permitting O’Connor to pinch a number of frames and seal a spot within the quarter-finals.

O’Connor received mission inconceivable underway with a high-quality crimson into the center pocket within the first body. A tidy break of 63 adopted and though he was left annoyed after failing to separate the remaining reds, he quickly thundered house a shot-to-nothing to pinch the opener.

Allen led 42-3 within the second body when he allowed O’Connor again to the desk, watching as his unfancied opponent discovered the left center once more to kickstart one other break. A 64 contribution adopted, that includes a masterful positional shot off the yellow that arced down under the black to land on the inexperienced, and he was quickly celebrating a two-frame lead as Allen conceded chasing snookers.

The third body got here right down to a protracted security battle on the ultimate crimson, earlier than the stalemate was ultimately lifted when O’Connor rifled a half-chance house from distance. Nonetheless trailing by 11, O’Connor wanted to clear to the pink to take the body – and he did exactly that as venture implausible all of the sudden regarded alive at 3-0.

Allen once more grew to become unstuck within the fourth body after getting a poor run after charging into the pack. He recovered with a stunning skinny crimson into the center pocket and set off in pursuit of his forty first century of the season, solely to fail in his try and knock the penultimate crimson off the cushion, leaving him stranded on 85. Nonetheless, he headed into the interval in higher spirits, with the deficit minimize to 3-1.

The Northern Irishman marked the resumption with a pleasant lengthy crimson however the fifth body quickly turned cagy after he misplaced the cue ball once more. After some security jousting, O’Connor seized the chance when it arrived and constructed a sensible 66 break to maneuver 4-1 forward – displaying composure Allen so desperately craved.

Allen responded with a 91 within the sixth, a break not with out drama after but extra positional woe, as he hinted at a revival. However a powerful complete clearance of 132 from O’Connor, that includes two break-defining long-range reds, noticed the Leicester potter transfer one body from victory.

The runaway chief on the one-year record delayed defeat after dominating the eighth body, however a steely clearance to the black from O’Connor within the ninth body noticed him throughout the road for one of many largest wins of his profession.

Within the session’s different match, Ryan Day, now the highest seed after Allen’s shock exit, noticed off Chris Wakelin 6-2.

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