Mark Allen ‘might have needed a nappy’ after food poisoning battle before win at Masters

Mark Allen shrugged off a bout of food poisoning to beat Mark Williams 6-2 and book a quarter-final clash with either Judd Trump or Ding Junhui, and then

Allen, the 2018 champion, had spent much of the week in bed but recovered from a 2-1 deficit to reel off five straight frames and book his place back in the last eight.

“I felt comfortable which is weird because I couldn’t prepare for this at all, I was lying in bed all week with food poisoning,’ said Allen, speaking to TNT Sports.

“I just thought I’d go out and give it my best. I wouldn’t have had much left if that had went much closer so I’m glad I got over the line when I did. I was always going to play, I just might have needed to wear a nappy for TV. It wasn’t a good week.”

Asked what caused his illness, Allen said: “I wish I knew. Lying in bed one night, all of a sudden needed to go and throw up and that was me for about six hours and three days later just could hardly get out of bed. The last few days trying to prepare for this, just very, very weak.”

Williams admitted he wasn’t good enough to keep pace with the Northern Irishman. “Just pretty poor really,” Williams said of his own performance. “I think my highest break was 35, it’s not very good. I’m going to get those performances more and more as my career goes on, I’ve just got to accept that.

“I tried, even though it looked like I probably didn’t try, I tried my best but my boy had more breaks than me at the weekend in a junior comp. He’ll give me some stick, I expect.”

Later on Monday, world champion Zhao Xintong stepped up his quest to complete the 'triple crown' of snooker's major titles after breezing into the quarter-finals of the Masters.

Zhao, who has already won the world and UK titles in his short career, reeled off four consecutive half-centuries as he cruised to a 6-2 win over Gary Wilson at Alexandra Palace.