Mark Allen: I’ve got room for improvement after ‘scrappy’ win in Crucible opener

The Antrim cueman will meet the winner of the clash between John Higgins and Jamie Jones on Saturday after finally seeing off Robbie Williams.

The World No.3 led 7-2 after the opening session but failed to find the fluency he showed at times on Tuesday, allowing Williams to come back to 9-6 before getting over the line with a break of 114.

“I always felt I had another few gears to up [in the first session] and felt I was always in control,” said Allen

“It was very scrappy today — I didn’t quite feel in control but I was happy with how I finished.

“There’s a lot of room for improvement after that. At 9-4 I felt I’d done the work but I just felt a bit flat.

“Then whenever he made a couple of breaks to make it 9-6 I switched back on and was really up for that last frame so it was a good break in the end.”

With several big names already gone, Allen will be keen to make sure he doesn’t add to that list in the second round.

“There’s not many upsets these days as the standard is so high,” added the 38-year-old.

“None of that would put pressure on me — the only pressure that’s on me is from myself and that’s always been the case. I don’t care what other people think.

“I want to be world champion and I want to be world No.1. But I can’t think of that when I’m out there.

“I just have to think about the shot ahead and that’s what I’ve been doing pretty well lately. I just need to continue to do that and the rest will take care of itself.

Ronnie O’Sullivan roared out of the blocks in his quest to become the first eight-time world champion in the modern era as he built an 8-1 lead over Jackson Page in the first session of their first round match.

O’Sullivan looked up for the task from the off as he fired four half-centuries plus a break of 122 in the fifth frame as he left the young Welsh qualifier next to no chance of rescuing the situation when they resume to a conclusion today.

Making his second appearance at the Crucible, the 22-year-old Page had plenty of early chances but careless errors cost him dear and he looked in real danger of losing the session to whitewash until he crafted a superb break of 142 in the seventh frame to clinch his only success of the day in style.

Kyren Wilson missed out on another Crucible maximum but completed a comprehensive win over Dominic Dale.

Wilson potted 11 reds and blacks in the final frame but ran short on a mid-range red but the 32-year-old won the two frames required to wrap up a 10-1 win.