Higgins and Allen Trade Blows
John Higgins and Mark Allen are locked together at four-frames-all after the first session of their semi-final at the 12Bet.com UK championship in Telford.
Both players held the lead during a high scoring session but neither managed to push home their advantage as each time the other evened things up.
Three-times world champion, playing is his first major ranking event since returning from a six-month suspension following ‘match fixing allegations’, continued his fine form by taking the opening frame with a clinical break of 96.
Not to be outdone, Northern Ireland’s Allen hit back with a run of 130, his fourth century of the tournament so far.
Higgins regained the lead in the third with a 64 only for Allen to easily level the scores with a break of 78.
Allen looked set to go in front for the first time when they returned from the mid-session interval, as he opened up with his third break over fifty in four frames. The Scot clawed back the lead in a couple of visits and when the left-hander made a mistake, he pounced to take the pink and black to edge in front once again.
Allen, who would move into the world’s top-10 if he reaches the final, levelled again with a break of 72 in frames six and finally went ahead in the next winning a scrappy frame that lasted just over half an hour.
Two scoring visits in the last frame of the session brought Higgins back on level terms with the evening session to come.
