Antrim’s Mark Allen produced a maximum break on the same table he said should be “burnt” earlier in the week during his third round match against Belgian teen Ben Mertens at the British Open.
The World No.3 cleared the table for the fourth 147 of his career in the second frame of his last-32 tie against Mertens – which is still in progress – at The Centaur in Cheltenham.
Ironically, Allen’s 147 came on the exact same table he suggested should be “burnt” earlier in the week in a scathing attack on tournament organisers for the conditions they were playing on.
He got off to the perfect start in his match against Mertens when he claimed the opening frame after streaking into an early lead and then survived a safety battle on the pink from the former world youth champion, before clearing the table in frame two to double his lead to 2-0.
Viewers on social media described Allen’s maximum as “one of the smoothest” 147s they have seen, with the ‘Pistol’ on top form to take control of the third round clash.
That didn’t stop him from playing some exhibition-style snooker on his way to the achievement, including this outrageous shot midway through the frame.
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Earlier in the week, Allen hit out at the state of the tables at The Centaur, claiming they were not good enough for the tournament despite defeating Gary Wilson in his opening match.
“The conditions out there are absolutely embarrassing,” Allen told host broadcasters ITV on Monday.
“It’s some of the worst weather outside and they’ve left the massive transport doors open. It’s so cold, it’s so humid, out there.
“The table needs to be burned. The cushions are unplayable, uncontrollable. It was heavy. The speed was decent. There’s new guys doing the tables this year and they’re clearly not up to it.
“I pride myself on preparing properly for tournaments with good conditions and you turn up and you don’t get them. It’s not good enough.
“I complain every single tournament, fill in table report sheets, match report sheets and nothing ever changes.”
After his televised rant he took to X to apologise to TV reporter Rob Walker.
Allen posted: “After having some time to calm down I’d like to apologise to Rob Walker for that interview. My anger wasn’t directed at him and he definitely deserved a better interview. My frustrations were 100% at the conditions which frankly haven’t been anywhere near good enough this season.”
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