Barry Hawkins endured a heartbreaking exit from the World Snooker Championship after a costly error sealed his 13-11 quarter-final defeat to Mark Allen.

Dramatic Final Frame Decides Match

The encounter showcased high-class snooker, with Hawkins compiling two centuries and 10 half-centuries, while Allen responded with three centuries and six half-centuries. Many frames proved one-sided, but tension peaked in the decisive 24th frame.

Hawkins fluked the final red before attempting to roll onto the pink to snooker Allen behind the yellow. He fell short, snookering himself and conceding six points. Although he escaped to pot the yellow, he left it safe, allowing Allen to clear the table and secure victory.

Hawkins Reflects on Agonizing Moment

‘Disappointing way to lose, I had a massive slice of lady luck fluking the last red, unforgiveable not reaching the pink, horrible way to go, really,’ Hawkins said.

He added: ‘I was obviously nervous, but no more than I have been before. It’s unforgiveable not reaching it. I was worried about over-hitting it, believe it or not, I didn’t want to twitch, throw a quick one in and push the white past. But I just didn’t go through the ball and it was a bit of a killer, really.’

After the miss, Hawkins felt immediate despair: ‘I was just thinking “that’s it, game over.” I was gutted, obviously. What a way to lose! It’s a horrible feeling, knowing that you’ve played an absolutely terrible shot. If anything I over-hit them things, it’s just gutting, a sinking feeling. I was trying so hard after a long match and playing well for the most part.’

Allen’s Perspective on the Thriller

Allen captured the emotional rollercoaster: ‘I wouldn’t have fancied going 12-12, my heart sank a little bit when he fluked that red out of the snooker and that summed up the match for me. Barry played very well but every bit of run went his way, I played 24 frames and I don’t think I had to say sorry once, so when that red went in I wasn’t overly surprised. But if you could have seen inner Mark when he didn’t reach the pink, you would have laughed because he was doing somersaults!’

The Northern Irishman praised his opponent’s form: ‘Barry’s scoring was very good and he never looked like missing. But as the match went on he started looking edgier as well. He missed a few as the match went on and I started feeding off that a little bit, knowing he wasn’t at his best as he was yesterday. Just to beat a player of Barry’s quality given how well he played in a best of 25 gives me lots of positives.’

Hawkins Defends Allen’s Style

Addressing recent criticism of Allen’s tactics, Hawkins disagreed: ‘He didn’t play negative against me, he played most of the right shots and played them very well. Had me in trouble loads of times, he went for the balls I thought he would have gone for, scored as well as he normally does, great in the balls. I wouldn’t say he was negative at all. There’s a lot of pressure out there and he handles it well.’

Allen advances to his third Crucible semi-final, awaiting the winner of Wu Yize versus Hossein Vafaei. That match concludes with sessions on Wednesday afternoon and evening, with semis starting Thursday evening.