Mark Allen led 5-3 after the first session of the round of 16 against Kyren Wilson, but he will not have been satisfied after the evening. The Northern Irishman was already leading 5-0 before Wilson did his best to limit the damage.
The match started with an extremely exciting frame, in which Allen turned the match around after trailing 1-53. Wilson started with a 36 before adjusting to blue and taking a controlled exit. He then got back into the game, but missed a makeable green after 17 points.
Despite a good opportunity, Allen failed to capitalise immediately. He did better a little later, but was unable to nibble away the deficit sufficiently.
Kyren Wilson loses two frames he thought were safe
With only three red balls remaining, Wilson then holed a pre-decisive entry ball, but the long ball unfortunately ran into the centre pocket. Out of nowhere, Allen had the chance to turn the frame on its head.
In the final game on the colours, however, he misplayed to green. He was able to hole brown, but then got out with a strong safety, which resulted in a snooker.
Wilson then committed two fouls, which allowed his lead to dwindle to 53-51. After hitting blue with a safety shot, Allen had a tactical advantage, which paid off a little later with a shot-to-nothing.
He was unable to hole the pink immediately afterwards, but Wilson missed a safety immediately afterwards, allowing Allen to turn the protracted frame around after all.
The second frame also went Wilson's way at first. However, he again made an avoidable hole error while in the lead. Allen seized the opportunity with four reds on the table and also turned this round around with a 46 clear to pink.
The two unfortunate lost frames had an effect: Wilson hardly made a move until the break, and Allen quickly made it 4-0 thanks to breaks of 50 and 78.
He was also clearly at a disadvantage statistically at the mid-session interval; his meagre 76 per cent hole rate spoke volumes.
Kyren Wilson does damage limitation
This did not improve immediately after the break. In a frame characterised by tactical duels and several hole errors, Wilson was given the chance to turn the frame around after an unfortunate foul by Allen at 23-46 and two red cards on the table.
However, Wilson tried to do too much with a safe red ball in front of the corner pocket and missed the ball. After another safety duel, he then missed another chance miserably.
A little later, he was able to reduce the score to 37-46, but then missed the final red ball and had to leave the table again, which ended in another tactical duel.
This time, however, Allen emerged victorious and closed out the frame with a 24 clear to pink.
With his back against the wall, Wilson suddenly found his old strength again. After Allen clearly missed a long entry shot, the "Warrior" made the most of his first chance and earned a remarkable 75 break with difficult balls.
Wilson was also the first to make his move in the following over, but narrowly missed a red after 45 points on a difficult shot. Allen got into the balls a little later, but also missed a doable red.
After a lengthy safety duel, the Northern Irishman then holed a spectacular combination and opened the pocket at the same time - but was unlucky not to have a position on a colour.
As a result, he had to drop out, and a little later Wilson missed an opportunity, which he safely capitalised on to win the frame with a 44.
Wilson capitalised on his momentum and scored a 50 break at the start of the final frame of the evening before missing a difficult red.
Allen then holed red and blue, but then missed a makeable red. After Allen missed a difficult red in front of the corner pocket following a safety from Wilson, Wilson completed his comeback and made it 3-5.
The match will be continued tomorrow.
Neil Robertson completes round of 16
On the next table, Neil Robertson went into the final session of the remaining first round match with a 5-4 lead against Pang Junxu after the first session.
Pang took the first frame of the evening after he played a strong safety, and Robertson turned his subsequent mistake into a frame-deciding 45 break. But after that, the young Chinese player didn't have much more to say.
Robertson gets a chance for revenge
Robertson won four frames in a row at 5-5 thanks to breaks of 77, 80 and 54, while Pang only scored 39 points in this phase. Pang reduced the deficit to 6-9 with a 73, but Robertson ended the match in style with the first century break (100) of his tournament.
The round of 16 will see a clash with an old acquaintance: Chris Wakelin shocked Robertson as a qualifier in 2025 and knocked the 2010 World Champion out in the first round. Just one year later, the Australian gets his chance for revenge.
