World Snooker Championship: Allen to play Mark Selby for place in final
The Antrim player has reached the semis for the first time in 14 years
Mark Allen has reached the last four of the World Snooker Championship for the first time since 2009.
The Antrim star booked his place with a 13-10 win in his quarter-final with Jak Jones.
Allen will now play Mark Selby tonight (Thursday) for a place in the final.
Against Jones, Allen was far from his fluent best and made just one break over 70, but took advantage of a nervy display in the final session from his opponent to seal the win.
"It was never in doubt was it?" a relieved Allen joked after reaching the last four at the Crucible for just the second time in his career.
"It was a complete slog to be honest. The first session was really good but I was awful after that and it was just a matter of digging deep, trying to stay as positive as possible and trying to get 13 frames. That's what I did.
"I felt like as the match went on he was getting more edgy but I wasn't playing well enough to capitalise, so it was just a matter of staying patient and taking my chances when they came.
"It wasn't pretty, I'm sure it wasn't pretty to watch but I couldn't care less. I'm in the semis.
"I don't mean this to sound bad to Jak, but that was like a three or four out of 10 performance. That really wasn't good. But mentally I was like a 12 out of 10 and ready for anything."