Mark Allen, the surprise package of this year's Betfred.com World Snooker Championship, continued his brilliant run with a 13-11 defeat of Ryan Day.

Allen is the only player left in the tournament who has yet to win a ranking event, but his performances this week have proved he has both the temperament and the game to claim the biggest prize in the sport.

He knocked out Ronnie O'Sullivan in the last 16, and has now added the scalp if world No 8 Day. His displays are reminiscent of Shaun Murphy's in 2005; his attacking style and superb break-building could see him all the way to his first title.

In the first frame today, Allen missed a red to a middle pocket and Day cleared the table with a break of a 106 to close to 9-8. The Northern Ireland potter hit back with his third century of the match, a 108, to restore his two frame advantage. His century also took the tally for the to 68, equalling the record set in 2002 and 2007.

The 23-year-old had another chance in the nineteenth but missed the blue off its spot into the yellow pocket. Day made 46 before snookering himself behind a red. He took five attempts to hit the yellow but was soon back at the table and this time he made no mistake to pull back to within a single frame once more at 10-9.

The next frame was scrappy but finally came down to the final red, Day potted it but couldn't take a colour with it. With the yellow over its pocket, Allen cleared to the blue to put him 11-9 at the interval.

The fearless potter from Antrim is aiming to become the first Ulsterman to win the coveted trophy since Dennis Taylor's memorable black ball triumph over Steve Davis in the 1985 final. He'd made 30 before trying to develop the two final reds; he played the shot well but was unlucky to see the cue ball drop low on both balls. He played safe but Day potted both and dished the colours to pinch the frame.

A run of 65 put Allen on course to seize frame twenty two and after Day's attempted snooker on the final red failed, he potted the remaining balls to put himself on the brink of the last four, the first player from Northern Ireland since Joe Swail in 2001 to make that stage, and equalling his best performance in a ranking event.

A break of a 103 duly sealed his semi-final place.

Post match reaction

Mark Allen
To finish with a century was exactly what I wanted, you don't want it coming down to the last couple of balls. I'm pleased in all three matches I've had different kinds of pressure and I've always seemed to step up to the plate and bring my A game when it's really counted.

In my first match I was in danger of dropping out of the top 16 so there was that pressure and I got through that. Then there was the pressure of playing Ronnie and I stepped up at 11-11 and performed, and today Ryan kept coming back at me and kept fighting. I'll be the first to admit I didn't play very well in that match but I fought very well.

Putting Ronnie out in the second round there was a different kind of pressure on me for the rest of the tournament and I knew that Ryan would be one of the toughest opponents you can face, he's such a good potter and such a good scorer, you have to scrape him off the table and I knew I would have to play well no matter who it was.

I've always been confident in my own ability but you look at my results on paper and you'd probably question that! But I'm starting to perform more consistently. All season I've had decent results here and there and I'm very glad to have won that match because I read all the newspaper articles, like I always do, and a lot of people were quick to shoot me down after beating Ronnie, being a one hit wonder. That put more pressure on me but I like to prove people wrong.

That's part and parcel of playing the big players, but hopefully one day I'll be one the big players and they'll be talking about me.

It's what you play snooker for at the end of the day. I'm here to win matches and to win tournaments and if that brings headlines and media interest you have to be prepared for that as a snooker player.

I'll be the first to admit when I was younger I didn't have the best head on my shoulders but I have good people around, my family, my partner, coach and people like that who keep my feet firmly on the ground, so I'll never get carried away with any achievements.

My dream was to one day play at the Crucible and I've done that, another dream was to play in the one table setup with a chance of winning the World Championship and I'm going to that in the next match. It's what you dream of as a snooker player. Every big occasion that's been thrown at me so far I've handled them pretty well.

I'll be nervous at the start like I am in any match but I don't think it will be any different. I've been in the one table set up in the so-called smaller tournaments, the Northern Ireland Trophy, the Bahrain Snooker Championship, and I played three matches in the one table set up in the Masters in January so I'm not completely alien to it all, but it will take a bit of adjusting.

I came here prepared that if I was to go on and do well in the tournament I'd have five very hard matches in front of me, 95 per cent of the players that are in this tournament are more experienced than I am in the one table set up. So I came prepared for all, this hopefully it won't overawe me but I'm sure it won't.

I'm very pleased to still be in the tournament, I won't get carried away with it, I've still got a job to do and that is to win more matches.

I've got gig shoes to fill, you've got legends like Alex and Dennis, then Joe Swail who's a good friend of mine and I'm sure he'll be one of the first ones on the phone to congratulate me, hopefully I can go one further than he did when he got to the semi-finals.

I've got a coach back home who, when I'm struggling, works on my technical game, who's been with me since I was twelve so he knows my game a little but better than Terry Griffiths. Terry is good to have here because he's better at the mental side of it. Terry works with me as he's got the experience of playing in all the big tournaments. He knows what to say and when to say it.

Is my dad in the semis? I'd like to play him. Between Higgins or Selby I have no real preference, I know I'll have to play very well. I haven't played John in a long time, Mark I played in the semi-finals of the Masters and was unlucky to lose. If I keep playing the way I do I don't mind.

Ryan Day

Ryan, a tight match in the end, your views on it ?
Yes, it was a tight match throughout, but I’m bitterly disappointed to lose. I didn’t feel as though I played well enough in the early part of the match, and just never got it back on an even keel after letting the lead slip, from last night.
You always seemed to be playing catch-up but you got it back to 12-11

I just never could get back to him this afternoon, and like you say I was always playing catch-up.

Obviously you were trying to keep mentally focused out there, what were you saying to yourself ?

I just kept telling myself, that we were both going for something that neither of us have ever achieved before.
I thought that he might feel the pressure, when the winning line got close. At 12-11 he potted a mid-distance red, and got quite an easy opportunity, with the balls open. But he kept himself together and made a good break.

Were you feeling the pressure out there ?
Not really, because I was just playing catch-up, I may have felt it if I had got my nose in front, and saw the winning line but I was just fighting for my life out there, trying to stay in the match.

Do you think Mark can go on and win the title ?
He’ll have to up his game, the way John Higgins and Mark Selby have played. But who knows.

When Ronnie went out, did you feel as if the draw had opened up?

No, Ronnie looked as if he wans’t quite firing, so there was an opportunity he would get beat. I didn’t see it like that.

Do you like watching Mark play?
No. Mark is a very aggressive style of player, but one of the few I don’t like to watch because the jibs he pulls get on my nerves a bit (note: ‘pull a jib’ is a Welsh expression meaning to pull a face). He’s a fantastic player, having said that.

What will you be doing this summer?
I don’t know. I’ll have to ask my Mrs.

Will you and Mark be watching the Man Utd game tonight together?
Absolutely no chance. Unless he wants to come back to Wales with me.