Allen battles past qualifier Page at UK Championship in York

In the other match in the afternoon session, England’s Ali Carter defeated Welshman Ryan Day 6-4.

Carter has twice lost in the semi-finals of the UK Championship, but had not won a match in the later stages of the tournament since his 9-8 loss to Shaun Murphy in the final four in 2012.

“It’s all about getting a win,” said Carter. “Wins have been hard to come by of late and it has zapped my confidence. It was hard work from start to finish.

“I found the table was quite heavy and to screw back was quite different, but you have to play on whatever the table is like.

“I’ve had some good times here, but mostly terrible ones. I was 8-4 up in the [2012] semi-finals against Shaun Murphy and that went wrong 9-8 and I’ve not had too much success since then.

“Everything is so dependent on doing well in the big ranking events. I’ve not had a good run here for a long time so let’s hope it leads to one this year.”