The Champion of Champions concluded as we saw defending champion, Neil Robertson try to capture his third title against fellow event winner, Mark Allen. Wait, what… he qualified via ranking? He didn’t even win a tournament to secure a place here? And he beat the World No. 1 and 2 to get here? Hang on a second, let’s go through this.
Breakdown
It was an even exchanging of century breaks between the two players as they opened strongly but as the next few frames progressed, it was evident who was feeling more comfortable as Allen was immediately testing Robertson’s safety. Allen ended up taking the next two frames which included him showing his green thumb as he made three plants to win Frame 4.
In fighting spirit as always, Robertson wasn’t going to back away lightly as he makes a 63 in Frame 5 to reduce arrears. This is when we saw the three-frame-blitz of century breaks; a 110 from Allen, then a 108 and 109 from Robertson, which included a courageous first blue in Frame 7. As displayed throughout the match so far, Allen expertly manoeuvred the cue ball to string together a break of 67 to lead the afternoon session 5-4.
Despite only being one frame behind, Robertson was only able to secure another two frames in the remainder of the contest. Allen dominated the rest of the affair as he outperformed his opponent in scoring and safety play. Frame 13 saw a potential turning point as Allen wonderfully developed the yellow off pink to counter, but unfortunately missed the subsequent yellow. This allowed Robertson to clear the colours and trail 7-6.
However, Allen did a tremendous job putting this behind him as he ran towards the trophy aided by breaks of 119, 70 and 105 to clinch victory. And that’s how the man who didn’t win an event to qualify for this tournament became the Champion of Champions.
Afterthoughts
It was another runners-up medal for Robertson as he still seeks to secure his first title of the new season. Having been run to a decider against Judd Trump in the English Open, he was hoping to defend his brilliant victory at the Champion of Champions last year. Robertson didn’t necessarily play badly however, he was outperformed by his opponent in practically every department.
Robertson could have played a few more safety shots with due care but even he had to acknowledge how impressive Allen’s performance was that day. If he was able to bring out some of the safety he displayed against Selby, it would have been a much closer score-line because there certainly wasn’t anything wrong with his scoring, with the exception of some poor run-of-the-ball.
As for Allen, his performance all week has been clinical. When in the zone, his cue action and control is a treat to watch. And he upped his game for this final. His safety was as good as I’ve ever seen it and he punished on Robertson’s errors. Alan McManus complimented on how Allen was able to get top-side of the blue practically every time which is a testament of how brilliantly he can (and did) break-build.
Allen gave an honest assessment of how winning doesn’t come as easy as Trump, O’Sullivan, Selby and Robertson make it look. He further added how he’s joyous whenever he can just win one event every season or two. Whether it’s lack of belief or otherwise, Allen showed the snooker world how he is a credible threat in any event he participates in.
This was the kind of performance that resembled his excellent season which saw him win the Masters, Scottish Open and come runner-up in the UK Championship. Of course, maintaining this sort of level is astonishingly difficult but it goes to show how competitive the environment is if someone who qualified for a tournament based on their ranking – similar to Stephen Maguire at the Tour and Ali Carter at the Masters – can perform exceptionally well, and in this case take it from those who have one hand on the trophy.
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