Mark Allen (born 22 February 1986) is a Northern Irish professional snooker player from Antrim. As an amateur, he won the European Championship and World Amateur Championship in 2004. He turned professional in 2005 and entered the top 16 in the snooker world rankings after only three seasons on the tour. He won his first ranking title at the 2012 World Open, defeating Stephen Lee 10–1 in the final, and has since won a career total of 12 ranking titles.
Allen has won two Triple Crown titles, having defeated Kyren Wilson 10–7 to win the 2018 Masters and Ding Junhui by the same score to win the 2022 UK Championship. His best performances at the World Snooker Championship have been semi-final finishes in 2009, 2023, and 2026. While playing Wu Yize in the 2026 semi-finals, he missed a off in the penultimate frame and went on to lose the match 16–17.
The 2022–23 season was the best of Allen's career to date as he reached four ranking finals, won three ranking titles and reached number three in the world rankings. He was ranked world number one from May to August 2024. He has compiled over 700 century breaks in professional competition, including five maximum breaks. He is the only player to have made maximum breaks in all three Triple Crown tournaments.
Career
Early career At a young age, Allen considered a career in football, having trials with Sheffield Wednesday and Nottingham Forest before concentrating on snooker. Playing out of the Fountain Club in Antrim, he was Northern Ireland U14 champion in 2000, the U16 champion in 2001, before winning the Irish U16, U18 and U19 titles in one weekend in 2002, becoming the first player to win all three tournaments. By the age of 16 he had recorded his first maximum break and was a winner of the Golden Waistcoat, a tournament for the best U19 players from around the world.
He began his professional career by playing on the Challenge Tour in 2003, at the time the second-level professional tour. Before entering the Main Tour for the 2005–06 season, Allen won the European Championship and the IBSF World Championship, plus the Northern Ireland Championship at under-14, under-16, and under-19 levels. His early career was aided by National Lottery funding."Lottery Funding – Mark Allan" (sic). , National Lottery. Retrieved 26 April 2009.
By chance, an invitational Northern Ireland Trophy was staged shortly after Allen turned professional.Northern Ireland Trophy 2005" , WWW Snooker, 25 August 2008. Retrieved 26 April 2009 As a local player, he was invited and made an immediate impact, defeating Steve Davis and John Higgins to reach the quarter-finals, before losing to Stephen Hendry. In his first year on the tour, he reached the last 32 of the 2005 UK Championship and the 2006 Welsh Open, losing 2–5 to the then World Champion Shaun Murphy after leading 2–0. He also got to the final qualifying round of the 2006 World Championship, losing 7–10 to Andy Hicks, after leading 7–4.
In March 2007 he qualified for the World Championship for the first time, winning three matches, culminating in a 10–4 win over Robert Milkins. In April 2007 he beat former world champion Ken Doherty 10–7 in the first round held at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield,Doherty the fall guy as Allen tries to keep pace with his partner ", The Guardian, 25 April 2007. Retrieved 26 April 2009. but lost to Matthew Stevens 9–13 in the second round. This was his first run to the last 16 of a tournament and helped him into the top 32 of the rankings (at no. 29).
In the 2007 Grand Prix, in a match with Ken Doherty, he was involved in an incident that led to his opponent branding him "a disgrace". Unhappy that the black would not go back on its spot after potting it, Allen struck the side cushion of the table with his fist. The referee told him that he would be warned if he did that again. Allen was not warned, and ended up winning the match. Doherty said, "He was a disgrace. For such a relative newcomer to the pro game, he's got a serious attitude problem". Allen later commented: "It was entirely my own fault and if there are going to be any repercussions then so be it."Doherty appalled by Allen's poor behaviour ", The Independent, 18 October 2007. Retrieved 27 April 2009. Allen did not reach the knockout stage of the tournament.
In the 2007 Northern Ireland Trophy he beat Graeme Dott and Ryan Day, 5–3 in each case, to reach his first ever quarter-final. There he defeated Gerard Greene 5–3 to reach the semi-final, where he lost 3–6 to Fergal O'Brien. In the following UK Championship he defeated Stephen Hendry in the last 32. He opened his last-16 match against Mark Williams with two centuries in the first three frames, building a 5–1 lead, but Williams fought back and he lost 5–9. He then reached the quarter-finals in the 2008 China Open before losing to Shaun Murphy. At the 2008 World Championship he led Stephen Hendry 6–3, 7–4 and 9–7 before losing 9–10. However, first-round defeats for all his rivals for a top-16 place ensured that he finished the season at number 16 in the rankings.
2009–2011 seasons At the 2009 World Championship, Allen beat Martin Gould in his opening match. He then faced Ronnie O'Sullivan in the second round, and Allen defeated the defending champion 13–11 to progress to the quarter-finals. He then defeated Day by the same scoreline to reach the semi-finals, where he lost 13–17 to John Higgins, despite making a fightback from 3–13 down. Allen won his first professional tournament, the 2009 Jiangsu Classic, by beating home favourite Ding Junhui 6–0 in the final.
During the 2010 Masters, Allen beat the World Champion, John Higgins, 6–3 in the last 16, but lost 5–6 to Selby in the quarter-finals.
On the first day of the 2010 World Championship, Allen came close to recording his first ever maximum break in his first round match against Tom Ford after potting 15 reds with blacks, and the yellow, before breaking down on the green. Five days later, Allen made the first 146 break in World Championship history, and the second of his career after defeating Mark Davis 13–5 in the second round. He was defeated 12–13 in the quarter-finals by Dott, having led 12–10.
At the 2010 UK Championship, Allen reached the semi-finals for the first time, where he was beaten 5–9 by eventual champion John Higgins. In the Masters, Allen again reached the semi-finals, and led Marco Fu 4–1 before Fu reeled off five frames in a row to win 6–4. At the 2011 World Championship, Allen entered as the 11th seed and played Matthew Stevens in the first round, recovering from 9–6 down and seeing Stevens miss a pot on the final pink to win the match 10–7, before winning 10–9. In the second round, Allen defeated Barry Hawkins 13–12. He reached the quarter-finals for the second year in a row but lost to Mark Williams 5–13.
2011/2012 season
The season began with Allen ranked world number 12 and he began it at the inaugural Australian Goldfields Open, where he beat Day and Marcus Campbell. Into the quarter finals, Allen was beaten by his rival Stuart Bingham 5–3. The next ranking event was the Shanghai Masters where Allen reached the second round and held a 4–2 advantage over Shaun Murphy before losing the next 3 frames and being edged out of the match 5–4. His steady start to the season meant that he maintained his world ranking of 12 after the first cut-off point.
Allen made it to his first ranking event final at the 2011 UK Championship by beating Adrian Gunnell, Ali Carter, Marco Fu and Ricky Walden. It was his first success in a ranking event semi-final, after having lost in all five prior attempts. In the final he played Judd Trump with whom he held a 2–1 advantage in the previous meetings between the pair. Allen opened up a 3–1 lead early in the best of 19 frames match, but subsequently lost the next seven frames to trail 3–8. However, such a deficit brought out the best in Allen as he won five of the next six frames, which included three centuries. The comeback was not quite completed though, as Trump secured the frame he required to take an 8–10 victory. Allen said after the final, "I knew it was going to be hard the way he was playing, he scores so heavy and so quickly and I didn't feel I was playing too bad but Judd played so well and it was hard to compete." Allen made five centuries during the tournament, the most of anyone in the event.
Allen lost the last four frames in the first round of the Masters to Neil Robertson having led 3–2 and stated afterwards that he had "completely lost interest" in the match. He accused the Australian of employing slow tactics and said that at times he didn't want to watch him play. He then exited the German Masters in the second round and lost to Shaun Murphy in the quarter-finals of the Welsh Open.
In March, Allen won his first ever ranking event as he captured the World Open title in Haikou, China. He beat qualifier Jimmy Robertson in the first round, before exacting revenge over Judd Trump for his defeat in York, by coming back from 0–3 down to triumph 5–4. He comfortably beat Mark King 5–1 in the quarter-finals, before producing another comeback from 2–5 down against world number 1 Mark Selby to win 6–5 and reach his second ranking final of the season. Allen played Stephen Lee in the final and dominated the encounter from start to finish as he won by 10 frames to 1. His season finished in disappointment, however, as he exited both the China Open and World Championship in the first round, to end the year where he started it, ranked world number 12.
2012/2013 season Allen began the season with second round losses to Williams at the Wuxi Classic and Trump in the Shanghai Masters. He claimed his first title of the year at the minor-ranking Antwerp Open, making three centuries in a 4–1 win over Selby in the final. Allen then beat Milkins and Cao Yupeng in the inaugural International Championship, before being edged out 5–6 by Trump in the quarter-finals. At the UK Championship, Allen lost to Fu 3–6. At the Masters Allen came past Mark Davis, but was then narrowly beaten 5–6 by Neil Robertson in the quarter-finals. At the Snooker Shoot-Out, Allen won through to the final where he lost to Gould. He suffered successive second round defeats at the German Masters and the Welsh Open to Hawkins and Ding respectively, before he travelled to China in an attempt to defend his World Open title from 2012. Allen beat Day, Milkins, Walden, John Higgins and Stevens 10–4 in the final to capture his second ranking title. Allen's Antwerp Open win from earlier in the season helped him finish eighth on the Players Tour Championship Order of Merit to qualify for the Finals where he lost 3–4 in the quarter-finals to Ding. Robertson beat Allen 5–1 in the second round of the China Open, and then Allen was the victim of a first round shock at the World Championship for a second year in a row as he lost to world number 30 Mark King 8–10, having led 8–6. Despite this, he climbed five spots in the rankings during the year to finish it ranked world number seven.
2013/2014 season