Mark Allen criticises China venue again after latest win

Mark Allen
Mark Allen

Mark Allen continued his criticism of the Haikou World Open after beating Mark King 5-1 on Friday to reach the semi-finals of the Chinese event.

Allen's latest comments on Twitter were about the high temperature in the arena, which he said was a "disgrace."

"We asked if we could take our bow ties off as it was too warm," said Irishman Allen on Twitter.

"World Snooker said air con was full up. Got to Kingy a bit more than me. Played all right though all things considered."

The Northern Irishman was joined in the semi-finals by Mark Selby, who beat his fellow Englishman Shaun Murphy 5-0.

In the second session of the day, world number 38 Robert Milkins gave an outstanding performance to beat Scotland's world number six John Higgins.

The Englishman now faces Stephen Lee, a 5-1 winner over Graeme Dott, in the semi-finals.

"I played really well and John played really well too, so it was a shame to see a loser, Milkins told worldsnooker.comexternal-link.

"I've never beaten John but to beat him like that when he was playing so well was extra special for me."

Higgins paid tribute to his opponent saying: "That was one of the best matches I've played all year and I still lost - he played great snooker."

Lee will play his second semi-final in a month and is looking forward to facing Milkins after his straightforward victory over Dott.

"The table was hard work," he said. "And we both struggled a bit. I'm looking forward to tomorrow though.

"Robert's just beaten John Higgins and I know him really well. He's a good aggressive player and I'll be bang up for it."

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