English Open: Mark Allen defeats Lyu Haotian with brilliant performance and prepares for the round of 16 duel against John Higgins

Mark Allen came from behind to defeat Lyu Haotian 4-2 and reach the round of 16 of the English Open in Brentwood with an impressive performance.

Having taken the lead, Allen had to come back from a 2-1 deficit but made few mistakes from then on to secure the win, securing a thrilling draw with John Higgins and a place in the quarter-finals.

Allen secured a comfortable first frame with a break of 71, and despite some errors in the second frame, Lyu fought back to equalize.

An exciting third frame followed, with the pair playing some long safety games before the Reds allowed Allen a good attacking attempt.

The Pistol took a 60-26 lead and looked certain to extend his advantage, but made the green bag's jaws wobble and gave Lyu a chance to steal the frame.

The 26-year-old returned to the canvas, but when the opportunity for a missed double presented itself, he decided to ignore it and instead the pair resumed their earlier battle for victory.

Allen finally hit the black ball with the last red ball and Lyu was again in pole position to take a 2-1 lead, which he did after a flawless clearance that looked difficult.

Allen responded brilliantly to the deficit and made a superb break of 52 in the following frame to pull level. He then stepped up a gear with another superb performance, rebuilding his lead with a run of 75 points and moving to within one frame of the next round.

The sixth frame was anything but pleasant for a frustrated Allen, who faced a difficult clearance after sinking a long red, leaving the cue ball protected by eight reds.

He finally hit the yellow on his fourth attempt with a brilliant effort, the white landing right on the top cushion, and he continued his brilliant form since trailing 2-1 – in a frame he should not have allowed – to finish the game in style.

Elsewhere, the prolific Chris Wakelin made breaks of 126, 86 and 83 to edge out Zhang Anda, who hit a match-high 136 points and narrowly missed the maximum break.

Wakelin won 4-1 to advance to the round of 16 and secure a draw with Pang Junxu, who had previously defeated 2023 world champion Luca Brecel 4-3.