Mark Allen made a tremendous start to the defence of his Spreadex World Grand Prix title as he made three centuries in a 4-2 victory over Jack Lisowski.
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Allen beat Judd Trump 10-9 in the final of this event a year ago, and comes into 2024 full of confidence having won the Champion of Champions and the Shoot Out late in 2023. He looked very sharp from the start today as breaks 103 and 110 put him 2-0 ahead. Lisowski recovered to 2-2 with 93 and 75, but a high quality contest went the way of Allen thanks to further runs of 108 and 78.
"Jack is one of the most talented players on the tour so it was a tough draw," said the Northern Irishman. "It was a very good standard today. But at 2-2 it was in the balance, in these short races the margins are very fine. I have generally done well in the past when I have been defending titles so hopefully I can go far this week."
Allen's opponent in the last 16 is Zhang Anda, who won his first ranking title in November at the International Championship. Zhang saw off Dominic Dale 4-2 with top breaks of 75, 81 and 74. World number three Allen added: "Zhang has been the surprise package of this season, no one saw that coming. He has been on the tour for a long time but now suddenly looks like a world beater."
Ding Junhui edged out Ricky Walden 4-3 thanks to a break of 72 in the decider, while Noppon Saengkham beat Xiao Guodong 4-1 with a top run of 81.
