Mark Allen has been knocked out of the Players Championship in the opening round by Ding Junhui and is now at risk of missing out on a place at the World Championship. The 32-year-old fell to a 6-2 defeat in Llandudno and he needs to rely on other results to retain his spot in the top 16. Monday’s clash was a scrappy affair but Ding, who is priced at 12/1 to win the 2018 World Championship, always looked the most likely to progress as he managed to string together some nice breaks.
Ding led 3-1 at the interval, although his top break was just 50, but he kicked on when they returned to the table after Allen had pulled one frame back to seal the match with breaks of 72, 81 and 61. Allen, who won the Masters just two months ago, admitted that his performance was not up to scratch. “That was probably the worst I have played all season,” Allen said. “It has been coming because I have been struggling mentally for a while. I’ve been practising really hard and well – last week I had back to back 147s. But practice means nothing when you are out there and all the negative feelings come back. Maybe I’m trying too hard. Nothing is coming easy and it’s a bit of a comedown from the Masters.”
The Northern Irishman will drop down to 17th in the rankings if Ryan Day beats Mark Selby on Tuesday and that will mean he heads to the China Open next month in desperate need of a strong run to secure a place at the Crucible. He added: “If someone goes past me in the rankings this week it might help me because it’s weird being the one everyone is chasing. You feel as if you are looking over your shoulder and trying to protect your lead. I might have to go to China being positive and trying to win matches.”