Mark Allen fought back from 6-1 against Ding Junhui to win the UK Snooker Championship 10-7. The Northern Irishman had twice been a runner-up but never a champion but this changed last Sunday at the final of the 2022 Cazoo UK Championship at the York Barbican in York.

However, this victory was far from smooth sailing. Ding took over the opening seven frames with three centuries. China's Ding Junhui had already grabbed the title on three other occasions, so it seemed that he was one step closer to getting his fourth title.

The Chinese player was leading 6-2 but Allen quickly fought back and levelled the playfield 6-6 after winning the opening four frames of the evening session.

"At 6-6 I felt so confident. To beat Ding in the best of 19 frames match when being 6-1 down is one of my best-ever wins - he's an absolute legend.

"I was struggling and I was just trying to stay as positive as possible. All I said was 'can I win the next frame?' and ultimately the answer is 'yes'.” Commented Mark Allen to the BBC.

Allen kept fighting back with breaks of 79, 60, 93, 132, 56, 59 and 109, making him win seven frames, and it did not stop there. Ding tried to fight back but Allen did not give him a chance. In a tight and tense final, Allen managed to win the last frame, which lasted more than 40 minutes.

His sensational recovery will go down in history as one of the best UK Championship final comebacks. With this victory, Mark Allen takes home the trophy and £250,000 in prize money, his biggest career payday to date.

Ding congratulated Allen’s comeback, saying to World Snooker Tour: “Mark was very strong when he came back at me. He’s always been a good come-back player, so I didn’t relax. I didn’t make that many mistakes, he just potted long ones, made big breaks and centuries. At 6-6 I lost a bit of feeling, he played much better in the second half. I didn’t make any breaks and suddenly he was in charge of the game.”

Next up are the German Masters and Scottish Open for Mark Allen. He is set to play against Peter Lines in the German Masters on the 22nd of November and against Chun Wai Lee in the Scottish Open on the 28^th of November.