Following his exclusive interview on the blog earlier this week, the 26-year-old Antrim man has won the Antwerp Open just days later.
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| Picture by Monique Limbos |
The Northern Ireland potter loves playing in front of a big crowd and always wants to put on a show. He sure did that in Belgium. Three consecutive centuries saw him race into a 3-0 lead and all but sealed his win against Selby; and a second ranking trophy.
Allen was honest enough in his interview with me to admit he finds motivation difficult to come by in the PTCs, perhaps explaining why until this weekend he was yet to win one.
But an enthusiastic home Belgian crowd helped him to find that extra gear he often reserves for the very biggest tournaments.
Allen played some super snooker this weekend and this is the reason everyone enjoys watching him play.
This great performance shows he still enjoys competing and has a determination to find motivation in every tournament he plays. If he does go on to find greater consistency, it will be a sign of his growing maturity and will put him in a fantastic position to win the amount of titles his talent clearly deserves.
Mark has fantastic confidence in his ability and, on this showing, it's easy to see why.
He may have underachieved in his career so far but, having reached three finals in the past year and winning two trophies in eight months, he's firmly positioned himself alongside the game's other leading lights.
He deserves a great applause for the way he plays the game and I'm sure he will go on to win many more titles.
Thought he came across really well in his post match interview, his Snooker was very classy and he showed himself to have a lot of class too despite some of the negative headlines he has generated in the past. Fair play to him and he deserves every success.
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