Along with the likes of Stephen Hendry, Ronnie O’Sullivan and Mark Williams, world champion John Higgins was among the favourites to win the 2010 Masters. However, last night he became the first big-name casualty of this year’s tournament after losing to Northern Ireland’s Mark Allen 6-3.

The three-time world champion was sloppy throughout, while his opponent performed admirably following the death of a close friend last week.

Allen admitted that emotions nearly got the better of him towards the end of the match, but the 23-year-old kept it together, held his nerve, and won the final two sets to book his place in the quarter-finals.

“It was a bit emotional towards the end, when it got to the last few balls I was trying not to cry. He was a member of the pool team I play for and a good friend,” Allen said afterwards.

The provisional world No. 1, Higgins, enjoyed a decent enough start to the match, taking the lead after a tightly-contested opening frame. Allen’s miss on the final green allowed his opponent to seal a 77-53 first frame win – but the World No. 11 had already shown enough fight to suggest he wouldn’t be a pushover.

And he proved this to be the case in the next three frames, winning them all to take a surprise 3-1 lead. To outline how well Allen was playing at this point, in frames two and three, Higgins failed to pot a single red as his Northern Irish opponent scored 77 and 73, respectively.

After being outplayed in the previous two frames, the fourth was more controversial as Higgins was deemed to have fouled while potting a routine black. The Scot appeared bemused with the referee’s decision, while replays failed to determine whether or not the call was correct.

“It puzzled me a great deal, every player knows if they touch a ball and I’m sure I didn’t,” the Scot said.

“I’ve looked at the television replays and couldn’t see the evidence. It doesn’t take much to make you feel sorry for yourself when you’re not playing well.”

But in frame five, Higgins reduced the deficit to 3-2 with a tactical 70-46. It appeared that an O’Sullivan-esq comeback was on the cards. However, Allen recovered well in the sixth, racking up a huge 124-6 win after two visits to the table of 51 and 73.

Higgins bounced back in the seventh, pulling the match back to 4-3, but Allen dominated the final two frames. First with a break of 69 in the penultimate frame before a break of 57 secured a 108-0 win in the final frame – along with his place in the quarter-finals.

After the match, both players revealed how they felt they hadn’t performed well on the night. Although it was the expected response from Higgins, his opponent would have been forgiven for revelling in his victory slightly more.

“It wasn’t very good. I made breaks when I needed to, but my concentration very poor,” Allen commented.

“I’ve won three games this season which is terrible really. The only time I played well was in the UK and I got beat!”

Despite his self-critical analysis, Allen was still pleased to have sealed the win, but recognised that Higgins’ poor performance was a factor in the 6-3 scoreline.

“It was definitely a good win and will help my confidence. John didn’t play well but you need the likes of Ronnie or John to be off-colour,” he said.

Meanwhile, a despondent Higgins conceded that Allen was a worthy winner, but was frustrated that the Masters remains his bogey tournament after this latest first round exit.

“I never seem to play well here. I can only liken it to a golfer who doesn’t play well on certain courses. I’ve lost so many first round matches but it’s the manner in which I’ve lost them,” Higgins added.

“Take nothing away from Mark, if you look at the points total he had about a 1000 and I had a 100. I was lucky to get three frames today.”

Allen will now play Mark Selby in tomorrow’s second quarter-final and will be gunning for revenge. The pair met at the same stage last year, but the Jester from Leicester advanced to the semis after a narrow 6-5 victory.

Rob Swan