Mark Allen books Crucible second round berth
Sunday, 18 April 2010 12:54Northern Ireland's Mark Allen claimed a 10-4 victory over qualifier Tom Ford on the second morning of the Betfred.com World Snooker Championship at the Crucible.
The man from Antrim returned with an overnight 8-1 lead and victory appeared a formality but Ford put up a fight, taking three of the five frames.
It was Ford who started the brighter to take the first frame of the day with breaks of 39 and 77. Allen appeared to have taken the initiative in the second frame and took a commanding lead but his opponent produced a break of 72 to reduce the deficit to five.
Ford took a 38-0 lead before missing a regulation red and offering his opponent a way back in, Allen making 61 before fluffing a pink.
After Ford could not take advantage, 24-year-old Allen cleared from yellow to blue to claim a scrappy frame and take a 9-3 lead.
A break of 58 in the following frame from Ford saw him reduce the score to 9-4 at the mid-session break.
The Leicester player made a good start after the resumption, putting 41 on the table before Allen had made a score. However, Allen produced a break of 72 before rounding off his 10-4 win in exhibition style by deliberately fouling on the final black.
On the other table, Hong Kong's Marco Fu took a 3-1 mid-session lead against Martin Gould.
After Fu went 2-0 up, Gould halved the deficit with a break of 58 but a 56 set Fu on his way to victory in the last frame before the interval.
