If you were asked to recount the year 2009, you might struggle to conjure up any memories of what happened. For Mark Allen, it will be scorched into his memory that was the last time he reached the fabled ‘one table set-up’ at the Crucible Theatre – that is, the World Championship semi-finals. On that occasion, the Irishman lost out to eventual champion John Higgins, and they could yet be reacquainted in the last four once again with Higgins tackling Mark Selby in the quarter-finals.