Mark Allen suffers whitewash semi-final loss to Ronnie O’Sullivan in Players’ Championship

Ronnie O’Sullivan claimed to have set up an all-Australian final at the Coral Players’ Championship in Preston after whitewashing Mark Allen 6-0 in their last four clash.
Mark AllenMark Allen
Mark Allen

O’Sullivan, who has bizarrely been adopting an Australian accent in post-match interviews since his quarter-final win over Barry Hawkins, will face Neil Robertson in the final on Sunday.

After cruising to victory over Allen in a low-key contest with top breaks of 84 and 59, O’Sullivan told ITV4: “It’s just been one of those weeks where it’s gone all Oz.”

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Despite his jovial demeanour O’Sullivan admitted he had to overcome some of the toughest conditions of his career to dispose of Allen and move one more win from defending his title.

Both players struggled to impose themselves on the match and while O’Sullivan was never required to find top gear, Allen plainly struggled to gain any kind of momentum.

Switching between English and Australian accents during the studio interview, O’Sullivan said: “To be honest with you the table was the hardest table I’ve ever played on in my life.

“They were like cannonballs. I don’t know if it’s the balls or the table but I’m hitting balls out of my skin there and they’re not going where I wanted them to go.

“But I was comfortable because I knew he was feeling uncomfortable. Hopefully they will get a new table before we play the final tomorrow.”