Yan Bingtao holds his nerve to beat Mark Allen in thriller to book place in final of the German Masters

Yan Bingtao’s excellent temperament came to the fore once again as he beat Mark Allen 6-4 to book his place in the final of the German Masters. The 2021 Masters champion could have been forgiven for being emotionally drained after coming through two titanic, final-frame tussles against Mark Selby and Ryan Day to reach the last four.

Ad/> But there were no signs of it. He encouraged the crowd as he walked into the arena, saw Allen race through the first frame, took control after the mid-session interval and held his nerve as it got twitchy to set up a meeting with his fellow countryman Zhao Xintong, who was too good for Ricky Walden earlier in the day.

German MastersBingtao stuns Selby with three-frame burst to book place in quarter-finalsYESTERDAY AT 17:05 Robertson set to miss Championship League after positive Covid test Selby will take time away from snooker if pressures impact on mental health Allen had been in imperious form in Berlin this week and stroked in a break of 75 to take the opener to warn Yan that he would be tough to topple. The second turned scrappy, but went Yan’s way after Allen was derailed by a kick on a pink and when a red appeared to roll off line and stick in the jaws of the bottom right.

Allen had one final chance to rescue the second, but somehow produced a foul that if he tried he would probably never be able to replicate. /> Yan had the third frame in his grasp, but inexplicably missed a pink off its spot.

He was attempting to pinch a piece of the pocket to create an angle, but overdid it and Allen countered superbly — with a brilliant double on the yellow the highlight — to move ahead. One of Yan’s most admirable traits is his temperament and he shrugged off the missed pink to knock in a