Mark Allen turns on style with hat-trick of centuries seal semi-final spot, Lei Peifan edges Tom Ford

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Mark Allen continued his spectacular Scottish Open run with a convincing 5-2 victory over Noppon Saengkham on Friday. Allen will face Lei Peifan in the semi-finals, who downed Tom Ford on the adjacent table. The former world No. 1 hit three centuries en route to victory, moving around the table in classy style to score heavily and dispatch his opponent quickly.

'The Pistol is firing again' - Allen stuns Edinburgh with hat-trick of centuries to seal win

Video credit: TNT Sports

Mark Allen was at his rip-roaring best to dispatch Noppon Saengkham in hasty style with a 5-2 victory on Friday, sealing his spot in the Scottish Open semi-finals.

Allen has impressed en route to the final four, notably cutting his time between shots - and his potting was exquisite throughout the quarter-final clash.

"I'm enjoying what I've been trying this week," he told Eurosport. "Just getting on with it.

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"Even winning matches in York, I wasn't enjoying it at all, the way I was playing, the way I was feeling.

"I just thought I'd get on with it and see what happens, couldn't have possibly felt any worse than I did. Nice to see some balls going in and scoring pretty well."

But it was Saengkham who clinched the first frame, as Allen fell just short on a red with the extended rest.

'Flown in somehow' - Allen fires home remarkable fluke in strong start

Video credit: TNT Sports

The Thai star pounced in fine fashion, firing home two reds from the right cushion en-route to an impressive 87 clearance.

But Allen took firm control of proceedings from there, emerging favourably from an early safety battle to post 78 without reply, after runs of 33 and 32 - enough to level the match.

The former world No. 1 found real fluidity in his break-building, and - for a moment - looked to be on course for a 147, but eventually fell short as the cue ball landed unfavourably close to a red, unable to find the right position on black.

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He was still on for a 145, and kept his hopes of clinching it alive with a major fluke on a red, but ultimately fell short, breaking down on 87 - enough for a 2-1 lead.

Allen's deft touch was on display, and his accuracy did not suffer from his notably quicker speed between shots.

He soon put up a fantastic century - an overall break of 120 - to go into the interval with a two-frame advantage.

And he moved within touching-distance of victory, picking up where he left off after the break with another stunning century - this time clearing the table with a run of 127, his seventh ton of the week.

'Seriously impressive' Allen goes within a frame of victory with second century

Video credit: TNT Sports

Saengkham, though, was not going down without a fight - and displayed admirable battling qualities to reduce the deficit with a fine century of his own.

The break-building on display in the quarter-final clash made for a fine spectacle, and Saengkham put together the largest run of the match at 136 to reduce the arrears, in hope of halting Allen's dominant momentum.

But the Northern Irishman made no mistake in closing out the match at the second time of asking, posting a fabulous third century to set up a semi-final clash with Lei Peifan.

'Would you be allowed to climb on the table?' - Allen entertains crowd as he eyes up shot

Video credit: TNT Sports

Peifan downs Ford

Meanwhile, Lei Peifan downed Tom Ford to book his place in the last four with a tightly-fought 5-4 victory.

Ford, fresh from his maiden ranking title win at the 2024 Snooker Shoot Out, delivered a masterful 136 break in the opener to lay down a marker against the debutant ranking quarter-finalist.

The Leicester man applied more pressure on the 21-year-old to double his advantage, but with a 52-point lead in the third frame, he missed an easy pink to the right pocket which allowed Lei in.

And the Chinese player seized his chance, quickly reducing the heavy deficit before clearing up for a 58-52 advantage to cut Ford’s lead to a single frame.

Miraculously, Lei emerged unscathed at the mid-session interval, after coming from behind again in the fourth frame to clinch it 67-34, following another lacklustre display at the baize from Ford.

The 41-year-old re-established his lead at 3-2, but once again struggled to hang on to his advantage as the resurgent Lei sealed back-to-back frames to move within a frame of victory.

But as he flirted with elimination, Ford produced another excellent century break of 125 to force a decider.

Lei had twice shown composure to come through final-frame deciders against former world champions, Stuart Bingham and Shaun Murphy, on his run to the Scottish Open quarter-finals.

And he came through another tricky test to continue his dream run in Edinburgh, beating Ford 5-4 to set up a meeting with Allen.

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