Mark Allen fought off a spirited performance from Kyren Wilson to win his first Dafabet Masters title with a 10-7 victory at Alexandra Palace. 🙌 30 years on from Alex Higgins' first #Masters title, Northern Ireland's Mark Allen celebrates his moment of glorypic.twitter.com/PRDhtIGy7n — Sporting Life (@SportingLife) January 21, 2018It was 40 years since the great Alex Higgins won his first Masters title and Northern Irishman Allen - who beat former champions Ronnie O’Sullivan and John Higgins en route to the last two - followed in the footsteps of his countryman following a marathon match lasting five hours and 14 minutes. Following a change of an ill-fitting waistcoat due to chafing, Kettering-born Wilson stole the third after Allen had made the early running. Allen took the next frame to lead for the first time in the match at 3-2 but it was proving difficult to separate the duo. A 73 from Allen followed by a sensational 119 - the first century of the match - and another 50 finally gave the 31-year-old daylight at 8-5 as Wilson began to make too many mistakes.

Source: Evening echo January 21, 2018 23:03 UTC