Luca Brecel graciously admitted that Mark Allen “deserved to win” their Riyadh Season Snooker Championship and take home the £250,000 spoils.
The Belgian Bullet was defeated by Ronnie O’Sullivan in March’s final, the inaugural edition of the competition, but appears to have an affinity for the Saudi tournament after defeating Zhang Anda, Kyren Wilson and Mark Williams en route to Friday’s showdown.
Since winning the 2023 World Snooker Championship, Brecel has struggled at the time, with fears growing that he may lose his tour card altogether. But the 29-year-old showcased why he is a world champion in Riyadh, picking up £125,000 as runner-up.
Allen defeated Brecel 5-1, but lost the first frame after nearly an hour and the world No. 3 promptly racked up breaks of 104 and 109 in the second and fourth frames en route to a comfortable victory.
“It’s been a good tournament for me, but in the final Mark was so good,” Brecel told DAZN. “He’s so good in safety battles, he makes it so tough for you. He played really well and he deserved to win. Overall, he played much better than me.
“I’m playing OK, today I didn’t play so well but I’ve been feeling good lately and hopefully, it’s going to be a good second part of the season.”
Neither player was able to make a 167 break and become the first professional star to successfully pot the new golden ball, worth 20 points at the end of a maximum, as the £790,000 prize continues to elude.
Though Allen came closest, he admitted to being nervous even reaching the high double figures while a possibility of a 167 break was on the cards.
“I was very nervous on the last few balls,” he said. “I felt good the whole game, but it was those last few balls I started feeling it a bit, so happy to get over the line.
“You’re never there until you’re there. Luca is such a talented player, he can reel off two, three, four frames in no time, so I was always on guard, always played the right shot and gave myself a few chances.”
But for the Northern Ireland star, his goal was to end a 10-month wait for a ranking title and seal the joint-highest payday of his professional career.
“You come here to win the tournament,” Allen added. “If I had made the 167 it would have been a massive bonus, but I’m not sure if I could have stood up if I got to the last few balls, because I was already really nervous on 65.”
