Mark Allen v Fan Zhengyi live stream | World Snooker Championship 2025 preview
Allen and Fan do battle at the Crucible once more (PA Images / Alamy Stock Photo)
Mark Allen launches his latest World Championship campaign against the returning Fan Zhengyi at The Crucible on Sunday.
The Pistol is making his 19th successive appearance in the main draw of snooker’s blue-riband event, and will be hoping this is the year he finally gets his hands on the trophy.
His quest begins against a familiar opponent, with Allen having beaten Fan 10-5 in the opening round two years ago.
It proved a positive omen for the Northern Irishman, who went on to reach the second of his two Crucible semi-finals, before narrowly losing out 17-15 to Mark Selby.
Allen also endured a dramatic defeat last year, as John Higgins produced a sensational 71 clearance from 62-0 down to snatch a 13-12 victory on the final black in their second-round clash.
Despite that earlier exit, the former Masters and UK champion had been crowned the new world number one by the conclusion of the tournament, though he has subsequently slipped to eighth in the rankings.
Allen has won the Riyadh Season Championship and reached a further three ranking semi-finals this season, but he arrives at the Crucible on a run of four successive defeats – including three consecutive first-round exits.
That is something Fan will look to capitalise on, as he seeks his first ever victory at the Crucible.
The Chinese announced himself to the snooker world by defeating Ronnie O’Sullivan to win the European Masters back in February 2022, though he has generally struggled to build on that momentum.
A run to the English Open last 16 represents the world number 46’s best performance of the season, while he arrived at the World Championship qualifiers having not played since his 4-2 defeat to Hossein Vafaei in the Welsh Open last 64 two months earlier.
Nevertheless, that freshness arguably helped his cause as he beat Robbie Williams and Michael Holt to secure his return to the Crucible, where he will hope to claim a worthy scalp in Allen.
The winner of this clash will set up a second-round clash with debutant Lei Peifan, who dethroned reigning champion Kyren Wilson on the opening day.
The match breaks off at 2.30pm BST on Sunday with the opening nine frames, while playing to a conclusion with a maximum of 10 at the same time on Monday at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield.
How to watch Mark Allen v Fan Zhengyi live stream
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