Ronnie O'Sullivan and Jimmy White laud 'instinctive' Luca Brecel after storming past Mark Allen at English Open

ByEurosport

Updated 17/12/2022 at 22:58 GMT

Eurosport experts and snooker legends, Ronnie O'Sullivan and Jimmy White, were both left very impressed by the showing from the ultra-aggressive Luca Brecel as he thrashed Mark Allen in their English Open semi-final clash on Saturday evening. Brecel went for his shots and left Allen stunned at 4-0 before closing out a 6-2 victory in style. He certainly left O'Sullivan and White positive.

'I guess it's not unbeatable!' - Brecel on his English Open semi-final win over Allen

Luca Brecel’s impressive performance in the English Open semi-final victory over Mark Allen caught the attention of Ronnie O’Sullivan and Jimmy White, both of whom lavished praise on the Belgian.

Brecel brushed Allen aside 6-2 to set up a place in the English Open final on Sunday where he will meet Mark Selby. He was at his brilliant best at the Brentwood Centre on Saturday evening, turning on the style to beat the player of the season with relative ease.

The Belgian chalked up breaks of 61, 55, 50 and 71 as he raced into a five-frame lead, and although Allen threatened a comeback at 5-2, Brecel held his nerve to see off his opponent. White and O'Sullivan were left very impressed by his display.

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“He’s the instinctive player here out of the two, you know; Mark Allen is a bit more methodical,” O’Sullivan said in the Eurosport studio.

“He plays like that pretty much all the time. Last night against Trump, same thing, just plays the balls, plays the table. And yeah, he's just been too strong tonight.”

White added: “He just loves potting balls. He doesn’t care how he gets to the end of the frame. He's just instinctive, gets down, sees a pot.

“It’s very difficult for him to refuse a pot because he gets so many difficult ones. He's very adventurous, likes to pot balls and he can pot anywhere.”

However, it was a very different story for the player of the season, Allen, who endured a rare off night.

'You frighten the life out of players,' O’Sullivan tells Brecel

“He's just not firing at the moment,” said O’Sullivan. “I think Luca has got in early, scored some points, put a bit of pressure on Mark.

“Mark feels like he’s got to play well. He wants to win the frame in one visit, and instead of playing on his instinct and just playing the balls, he’s thinking of the importance of it.

“Mark hasn’t really found his rhythm. But he hasn’t really been given much table time. Every time he’s missed, done something, Luca has gone in and killed the game off.”

O’Sullivan was asked if the wheels had finally come off for Allen, but O’Sullivan responded: "No, not at all. You can’t win every tournament, you can’t play well in every match.

“When you play that amount of games, every now and then you're going to come up against a top player, playing really well, you might just be a little bit off. That's how it is. You can't control everything all the time.

"Mark didn’t play bad tonight, he just wasn't given the chance, really. You have to give Luca the credit there, you know. He came out and played aggressive, made fantastic pots.”