Mark Allen is a Northern Irish professional snooker player from Antrim. He won the European and World Amateur Championship in 2004 and turned professional in 2005. Allen entered the world top 16 after only three seasons. He lifted his first ranking title at the 2012 World Open, defeating Stephen Lee 10–1 in the final; he has since won a career total of 11 ranking titles. He has won two Triple Crown titles—he defeated Kyren Wilson 10–7 to win the 2018 Masters and Ding Junhui by the same score to win the 2022 UK Championship—and has twice reached the semi-finals of the World Snooker Championship, in 2009 and 2023.