Quarter-Final: Mark Allen v Marco Fu - Part 1 Masters Snooker

Hello, good evening and welcome back to the Dafabet Masters 2017. The

crowds are slowly coming into Alexandra Palace for tonight's match

as Mark Allen takes on Marco Fu, runner-up in 2011, who is playing

some magnificent snooker at the moment. The prize at stake is a

semifinal clash against Ronnie O'Sullivan after another cracking

afternoon here at Ally Pally. Quickly out-of-the-box, the long red

suggested the Aussie was in fine form. Ronnie matched Robertson's

position with a fabulous pot 2-level proceedings. In frame four Robertson

with this effort, surely a contender for shot of the tournament, all

square at the interval. The middle frames were uncharacteristically

erroneous. First Ronnie opened the door for Robertson to take the lead.

Before the world number seven returned the gift in the very next

frame. 3-3 and little to separate them. Lady luck suddenly favouring

the Londoner in his home tournament. Amazingly, not just once, but twice

in two frames the Rocket now two up with three to play.

Another wayward attempt by Robertson opened the door for O'Sullivan to

seal the match and take his place in the last four for the fourth

consecutive year, closing out a 6-3 victory.

Ronnie O'Sullivan, two wins away from his seventh title, he will play

the winner of tonight's clash between world number eight Marco Fu

and Mark Allen, who lost to Marco Fu in the semifinal in 2011 and is

looking for revenge tonight. Good evening to John Parrott. Good

to see you, you were in the commentary box this afternoon for

that match, it resembled a heavyweights slugging contest, and

never really got going but it was compelling to watch. Fascinating

nonetheless, both players have played better but if you said we

would plate nine frames of snooker and not have a century break,

Ronnie's highest break was 68, I would have been surprised.

Fascinating, lots of Luke Somers and great safety and poor safety, but

fascinating to watch. The 2013 Welsh Open which Allen won

but finished 6-4. Interestingly, Marco Fu went on to lose in 2011.

Ding Junhui was in the final. You have to say Marco Fu must start this

match as favourite, given just how poor setting that win over Judd

Trump was earlier in the week. He does, the bookmakers make him

favourite but I think from the four quarterfinal matches I think this is

the hardest one to pick a winner. Mark Allen is in great form. Anyone

who beats John Higgins here is playing well and Marco Fu at the age

of 39th, for him to play the best snooker of his career is a fantastic

achievement and this could be 6-5. You have watched him closely, what

is it about Marco Fu? Ronnie mentioned he has changed his

technique. Has had an impact? I think it is confidence, he has

always been a good player. Generally the top players have that bit of

extra belief in themselves and he has got that. Fascinating game

between Stephen Hendry and Mark Allen and Stephen said to him, when

are you going to start winning majors and what will be the

difference? -- interview. He said, I need to lose weight and it was

refreshing honesty. Do you think somebody like that can have a

massive impact? I think so, is particularly with the standards

being so high. In Sheffield, 17 days, long schedules, long matches,

it takes a lot out of you and you need a good level of fitness and it

would help. The players are standing by. Let's is a good evening to RMC

Rob Walker. Good evening, ladies and gentlemen,

welcome to the climax of Day five of the Dafabet Masters, a meeting

between two players who are both brilliant in their respective

first-round victories and here they are going toe to toe for the right

to take on O'Sullivan in the semis on Saturday. Here we go again at

Alexandra Palace. Please welcome our first overall, a

player bidding for his third Masters semifinal, here after that 6-5 final

frame first round thriller over John Higgins, the winner of three ranking

event titles, including last year's grand final, one of the best

break-builders in the modern game, from Northern Ireland, he's Mark The

Pistol Allen. And his opponent, a player in the

best form we've seen from him in years. He won his third ranking

event last month beating John Higgins in the Scottish open final

from 4-1 down, his form in the first round win over Judd Trump was

sublime on Tuesday. Can he produce it once again? Let's find out, as he

comes from Hong Kong, Marco Fu! Good walk on music for Marco Fu but

who will be the superhero tonight? Good evening to our own super

heroes, John Virgo and Steve Davis. COMMENTATOR: Good evening, thank

you. Interesting matchup, this. The world number eight, which is Marco

Fu, against the world No 10 Mark Allen. Not much between them in the

world rankings. The only thing I would say, Steve, is Marco is on a

confident role at the moment -- confident roll. You can't beat a bit

of confidence. Very impressive performances by both

of these players in their first rounds. They will both come into

this match with optimism. Lovely opening red from Marco.

That's the type of balls he was knocking in relentlessly against

Judd Trump at the latter stage of their match. He played really well

there. And as Steve said there is nothing like confidence for his

success. Hebe John Higgins in his own backyard. That's how well he has

started to play. One of the best break-builders in the game. Has he's

potted plant? I was going to say for a second he has underhit that but

I'm not certain he played for this planet. It's possible, it's

certainly makeable. He didn't get the pace of the cue

ball right there. Sometimes when you are playing a plant your mind is

distracted from getting the weight of the shot correct.

We have been discussing it, John. Obviously Marco winning in Scotland

recently. But with that, it seems there is a special air of confidence

he has gained from somewhere. He is walking around the table, his chest

poking around a bit more, he has more authority on the table, more

presence. This is a fluke. Marco, you could

see in the background, was getting out of his seat. He hadn't noticed

the red going towards the pocket. He will be getting out of his seat now

that he will find himself snookered behind the green.

There was no way he had seen the planet. The came off two rates

behind the pink and came off another one. It was a fluke. Twice across to

get to the red near the top cushion. Will it slide? No, he hasn't judged

it well. Would you have this replaced and take the red on? You

would have to think Marco would get closer to the red, although it

didn't look like he was guaranteed to be on. This is the shot he has

got to play really. He played to cover up if he missed. He has left a

sniff of this red. I don't know if Marco can play cushion first or go

direct. Direct. It's the type of shot where you can't really turned

that down. As a result of Marco playing a poor escape has led him

hitting back into the balls. There is no rhyme or reason sometimes, is

there? The way Marco scores when he gets in

and around the black spot area, this is an excellent chance.

We may see him play a little cannon on the five reds just below the

pink. He is bound to be on the road to the opposite corner. -- on the

red. That's the only red that's easy to

get on. He wouldn't want to be too wide on it, he would want to be as

straight as possible. There's a few little banana skins here, depending

on what shot he chooses. The stun across for the loose red is the best

option. He played through the gap and that is an excellent shot as

well. The only danger with that was if he missed that cannon he would

have been in no man's land arguably the correct shot. It has opened

things up a bit more. Those three reds above the black, I

would have thought the right-hand one goes to the corner, maybe it

doesn't. But I think the right-hand one goes to the middle. Just

covering one another at the minute. He has such an angle he may have to

play another cannon. This time he's just caught it a fraction too thin.

Has he got the plant? He just wanted to catch that red a little bit

fuller. He would have been better off playing a three quarters for

cannon harder. These reverse plants are not easy.

Yeah. It's hard to judge sometimes. Well, that's two decent chances had

now. And he's not made the most of them. So, here is a chance for Mark

Allen, he comes to the table 32 points behind. He's plenty on.

Didn't hit the centre of the cue ball there.

He'll be very disappointed with that. A little bit of tension in the

arm. Not an ideal position after this.

You would expect him to get this yellow, but still these reds are not

perfectly placed at the top. That's a little awkward. I don't

know if he can cue past the brown for the yellow. It is the yellow he

would have liked to have been on. He seems to be getting down quick.

Maybe he can get to the centre of the cue ball. He's aware that brown

- he's got to keep that cue straight.

And all things considered, he's played this absolutely perfect. Good

shot! Not perfect on this pink, but it

might end up being OK for him if he can split these two reds apart. Lost

the cue ball a bit. A thinner contact on the red than he thought

he was going to get. So, this, all to intents and purpose, a match

frame ball. It is missable. But I expect him to get it. Whichever one

of the two he plays. 45 points, the lead. Still 67

remaining. So he's going to need two reds, two colours to clinch the

frame, this visit. And that was the problem he saw. He

couldn't do much, being tight on the cushion. Knew he would run into the

blue. But it is not bad. So, there you see it, 59 remaining.

52 in front. With just 51 remaining. Three chances.

Mark Allen obviously hasn't settled yet.

He needed three chances. He'll be very pleased with how he's finished

that frame. Mark Allen, well, never settled. So Marco Fu, comfortably

takes the first frame, 1-0. Very neat and tidy from Marco Fu. On

Tuesday Marco gave himself a mountain to climb. Tonight keen to

get out of the blocks quickly? He came through it. But from Mark

Allen's point of view, there was a shot there which was worrying. I

know it was the first frame of a match, but id don't get anywhere

close to this. At the start of a major quarter final you are trying

to stamp your authority on it, to show your opponent you are there to

play, that is not a great start from him. I saw in a couple of times in

the match this afternoon, as soon as Marco missed that red, Mark was

straight out of his seat. I wonder if matches like this, at a

tournament like this, whether you can be too keen? I think and we've

got one of the best men ever in the commentary box, Steve Davis used to

win nearly every time. When you first chance comes it is important

to take it. Marco was nervous there. Took three chances to win the frame.

You have to stamp your authority in a match like this. Mark Allen will

be kicking himself he didn't do it with that red. At the end of that

frame as well, Marco looked so confident. You said he looked

nervous. Looks confident at the end. It was good he cleared all the balls

up as well to make sure he didn't get any more practise. We know the

form Marco Fu is in. Mark Allen has to be less sloppy with the next

frame. We finish here at 7. 30pm. But every ball is live on the BBC.

All you have to do is hit your red butted on the or go via the BBC

Sport app. The Premier League show starts at 7. 30pm. Back to the boys.

The contact that was required, but if it doesn't bounce, does the green

cover the path of this on the left-hand side of the table? If not

there is a pot on here and there is a pot on.

And stroked it in. As easy as you like! Lovely shot!

A good chance to get into the reds. Perhaps not with screw, but with top

spin this time. Played that very well.

Certainly didn't have bundles of top spin, but he controlled the cue ball

to stay in the middle of the table. Wonderfully well, didn't lose it.

Unlucky, to some degree, how it has turned out.

If Marco Fu makes the most of this opportunity I would say he's in a

very strong mental position for the rest of this match.

Giving your opponent a two-frame start, when he's feeling confident,

Mark Allen's perspective is not the best start in the world.

Nothing wrong with a safety shot from Mark Allen. Just left enough

poking out. Nothing wrong with it. He got the

contact. But of course to make the pot more difficult he needed to be

tight to the baulk cushion. The green would have covered the angle.

But not to be. He's got to sit down and watch this take shape. Four

reds, four blacks. And he has made a maximum on four

occasions, has Marco. He's one of the heaviest scorers in the game.

He's fourth on the all-time list of century-makers.

I think the chances of a maximum now may have just gone with that shot. I

don't see how he can play for the black off this red. It was difficult

to get top side of the red there. I think the pink goes. If it

doesn't, that's a pretty poor effort.

He's given it one look already. Walked away in disgust. Now he's

going to play it, I think. Very nicely played. He's got the red

in the left corner. Keeping the cue ball in more open

play, I think, is the right thing to do.

A good chance now. A good idea for you to press red

button if you want to carry on. Mark Selby has the highest break of the

match so far. 139. Marco Fu could beat that in the next couple of

minutes. A 10,000 prize as well on offer for the highest break.

Press red right now. Goodbye for now.

If it ever came to pass that Mr Corbyn were the Prime Minister,

Well, I think we're a basket case now. Have you seen Southern Rail?

Have you seen the National Health Service?