On January 11, Beijing time, the last two games of the first round of the 2024** Masters came to an end, with Mark Allen defeating Higgins 6-5 and Selby sweeping Milkins 6-1. So far, the top 8 of the 2024 Masters have all been released, they are: Lisowski, Shaun Murphy, O'Sullivan, Ali Carter, Trump, Barry Hawkins, Mark Allen and Mark Selby.
Higgins is one of the "75 Masters". He has won 31 ranking tournaments in his career, with Higgins winning four World Championships, three British Championships and two Masters. The latest world ranking is 11th. Mark Allen is a famous player born in the 80s, nicknamed "Little Steel Cannon", his strength is not inferior to the 80 Five Tigers, he has a total of 10 ranking tournament championships in his career, and in terms of three major competitions, he won the Masters Championship in 18 years, won the British Championship in 2022, and is ranked 3rd in the latest world. The two have met 25 times before, with Higgins slightly inferior at 11-14, including five meetings at the Masters, where Mark Allen still leads 4-1.
The game was full of twists and turns. In the first game, Higgins took the lead 72-26 with multiple starts, leading 1-0. In the second game, Higgins missed the key green ball, and Mark Allen flipped through the bag to score the black ball, winning 66-59 thrillingly, and the big score was tied 1-1. In the third and fourth games, Higgins felt hot, and scored 83 points and 80 points in a single stroke in a row, winning two games in a row 119-0 and 81-14, and at the end of the first half, Higgins led Mark Allen 3-1.
In the 5th and 6th games, Higgins' hand slipped, and Mark Allen seized the opportunity to chase two games in a row 68-43 and 69-53 to tie the score at 3-3. In the 7th and 8th games, Mark Allen became more and more courageous, scoring 58 points and 123 points in a single stroke, and took a 5-3 lead to get the match point after four consecutive cities. In the ninth game, Higgins scored 58 points in a single stroke and easily won 79-4, chasing the big score to 4-5. In the 10th game, Higgins scored 61 points in a single stroke and chased another game with 88-6, and the two tied 5-5. In the 11th game of the deciding game, Mark Allen withstood the pressure and took the lead in sealing his throat with a single stroke of 86 points, and finally the game was over, and Mark Allen beat Higgins 6-5 to advance to the quarterfinals.
Mark Selby was one of the 80 Five Tigers and was nicknamed "Leicester the Joker". He has won a total of 22 ranking tournaments in his career, and in terms of three major tournaments, he has won 4 World Championships, 2 British Championships, and 3 Masters Championships. The latest world ranking is fifth. Milkins is a post-70s champion and a late bloomer, defeating Kyren Wilson 4-2 in the Gibraltar Open final in 2022 to win his first ranking title in 27 years. In 2023, he defeated Shaun Murphy 9-7 in the final of the Welsh Open to win the second ranking title of his career. The latest world ranking is 14th.
In this game, Selby easily won 100-8 in the first game and got off to a good start 1-0. In the second game, Selby was full of firepower, scoring 119 points in a single stroke, leading 2-0. In the third game, Selby scored 53 points in a single stroke and won again 89-32, leading 3-0. In the fourth game, Selby scored 63 points in a single stroke and won 83-1, and at halftime, Selby made a dream start 4-0.
The game came to the second half. In the fifth game, Selby took the lead, but after scoring 45 points, the offense was interrupted, and Milkins scored 88 points in a single stroke to win, and the big score was 1-4 to pull back a game. In the sixth game, he scored 70 points in a single stroke and won easily again with a score of 90-8, leading 5-1 and holding 5 match points. In the seventh game, Selby seized the opportunity to win with a single stroke of 74 points, swept Milkins 6-1, and became the last player to advance to the quarterfinals of this Masters.