MARK Allen’s hopes of a BetVictor Northern Ireland Open hat-trick were ended by world number 96 Andres Petrov at the Waterfront Hall in Belfast early on Tuesday morning.
The Estonian claimed a 4-3 victory in a scrappy encounter that ended at 1.45am, sending the world number four, winner of the event the last two years, crashing out and booking himself a date later in the week with China’s Xing Zihao for a place in the last 16.
Petrov led 2-0 and 3-1 with the only half-century break of the match, a 50, coming in the second frame, and while Allen struggled to find any fluency he did level at 3-3.
In the decider, Petrov missed a green on 48 to let Allen back in and after forcing his way back into the frame he looked set to get over the line. However, he left a match-ball blue in the jaws of the pocket, allowing Petrov to step in and take blue, pink and black for victory.
