Mark Allen eased into the quarter-finals of the Masters courtesy of a 6-2 win over Mark Williams at Alexandra Palace, but later revealed his preparations have been hampered by illness.
Allen had appeared in early trouble when trailing 2-1 after Williams got the better of a couple of tactical frames, but the Northern Irishman turned things around brilliantly, reeling off five frames on the spin to run out a comfortable winner in the end.
Frame four proved to be the key one in the match, Allen finally finding some rhythm with a run of 54.
It was one-way traffic after the mid-session interval, the 2018 champion adding breaks of 60, 125 and 70 to suddenly put himself within a frame of the last eight.
And he duly wrapped up his victory, dominating the eighth frame to set up a meeting with either Judd Trump or Ding Junhui.
Allen confirmed afterwards that he has been battling illness in the run up to the tournament, but didn't once contemplate pulling out.
Two-time Masters champion Mark Allen knocks out Mark Williams in the opening round! pic.twitter.com/hXggYs8El3
— TNT Sports (@tntsports) January 12, 2026
He told World Snooker Tour: "I was in a bad way last week, but I was never pulling out. I would have played sick if I'd needed to.
"These are the events that your career is judged on.
"I can't believe it's eight years since I won it because it feels like yesterday.
I can tell you every emotion I went through in those last few shots and in the celebrations afterwards with my Dad.
"Any win against Mark is a big one, I played some good stuff particularly after the interval and I felt 6-2 was a fair scoreline.
"Both Ding [Junhui] and Judd [Trump] have had quiet seasons by their very high standards so they will be looking to put something right this week."
In the evening, world champion Zhao Xintong had few troubles in a 6-2 victory over Gary Wilson.
Zhao responded to losing the first frame with a run of four half-centuries but the decisive blow came when he won a tight seventh, all but ending hopes of a Wilson comeback.
Zhao wasn't at his fluent best but didn't need to be, wrapping up the match with another half-century to become the third Chinese player into the quarter-finals.
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