The draw for the event is certainly one that excites me as we have a repeat of some quality matches from last year including one of the semi-finals, and one of the quarter-finals, while Trump and Maguire meet in a repeat of the recent UK semi. The favourites for the event in the eyes of the bookies are obviously the likes of Ronnie O'Sullivan, Judd Trump, Neil Robertson, Ding Junhui and Mark Selby. However, does the winner lie within those five? I could certainly be persuaded otherwise.
That's enough background chat from me I think, let's get on to talking about the actual tournament:
Quarter 1
First Round Draw:Ronnie O'Sullivan Vs Ricky Walden
Stuart Bingham Vs Marco Fu
Starting in the top quarter with defending champion Ronnie O'Sullivan we obviously know that it's going to be hard to back against him to go and defend his title. In the UK O'Sullivan is an inspired man and a completely different man to the one that turns out for events in China, and it's a very rare event when you actually see Ronnie lose in an event held somewhere in the United Kingdom. The snooker that he played in last years tournament was from different planet (especially in that 6-0 drubbing of his first round opponent this year Ricky Walden). If he's on that form again I think he'll breeze to the title as he did 12 months ago, though if isn't at his best at the very beginning of this tournament (which he wasn't at the UK Championships in the very early stages), he will be beaten by the quality opposition that stands before him. There's no edging through this quarter, it's going to take a player at their very best to win it.
Ricky Walden wouldn't have picked Ronnie O'Sullivan as his ideal first round opponent in this years Masters after that quarter-final last year, but it could present Ricky the ideal opportunity to pull off a result. It seems everyone's views I've read or at least heard on this match have it down that Ronnie will breeze past Walden again this year, and it seems that everybody has written him off. Here's my view: Ricky Walden is a quality player who knows what it takes to win at the very highest level as he showed most recently at the International Championships which he won in November. His deep runs in the past to both World and UK semi-finals shows he has the potential to win a big event in the UK and go on a deep run in the Masters at some stage. Having been written off left, right and centre Walden can relax with no pressure on his shoulders because for some ridiculous reason no-one seems to expect a lot from him. Can he beat O'Sullivan? Absolutely. Can he win this quarter? 100%. The one thing Ricky will need on Tuesday though is a good start. Without that I can't see him coming back from a few frames behind, so the first four frames of the match will be key and Walden has to be in the match after those opening exchanges.
Stuart Bingham is one of the only players who has challenged Ronnie O'Sullivan consistently when they've met in the last couple of years and the thought of possibly playing the defending champion is one that Stuart will relish, rather than be running away from in this section of the draw. First up though he has the very large matter of playing Marco Fu in the opening round on Sunday evening. Stuart played reasonable snooker at Crondon Park in the Championship League in the last week, and that will certainly have blown away those Christmas cobwebs for Bingham. For me, if he's on his game he'll be strong favourite against Marco because he's just that little bit stronger than the Hong Kong player. Last year at the Masters it would be a fair admission to say that Stuart wasn't really in it against Higgins in round one and he was convincingly beaten. Disappointments like that are ones that Stuart will be wanting to put right and hopefully he'll be in a better frame of mind for this tournament. I expect to see an inspired Bingham who will be motivated by another UK semi-final last month, and aspirations of repeating that here in London this coming week and righting the wrongs of the last couple of years at the Masters which have certainly not been kind to him overall.
His first round opponent is Marco Fu who always provides everyone with a tough game, whether he's playing anywhere near his best or not. Marco hasn't been at his best of late, getting to the UK quarter-finals despite playing incredibly poorly in the Last 16 against Shaun Murphy, such is the nature of Marco's game and his ability to grind results out from seemingly impossible positions and completely against the run of play. It was a mixed week for Marco last week at the Championship League where I personally think he could've done better and he wouldn't be too happy overall with his form coming into this clash with Stuart. It may only be a small marker, but both round robin matches he played against Bingham in groups one and two he lost and it certainly wouldn't be a huge coincidental if Stuart put it all together to see of Fu again at the Ally Pally.
Quarter Winner: Ronnie to beat Walden again, with Bingham beating Fu before Stuart Bingham upsets the odds to make the Masters semi-finals.
Quarter 2
First Round Draw:Barry Hawkins Vs Ali Carter
Neil Robertson Vs Robert Milkins
Neil Robertson is the highest ranked player in this section of the draw, and one of the hot favourites to come through it and into the Masters semi-finals. It's been a mixed season so far for the Australian with a good start in the summer seeming long gone now after poor showings at both the International and UK Championships. He seemed to be in decent early January form at the Championship League where he made the semi-finals of group one, but you have to question the reasons behind his strange withdrawal from the second group and how that changes his preparations for this tournament. What he has recognised is that he has a tough match first up against Robert Milkins who has beaten him a few times in big tournaments, and certainly won't be afraid of the prospect of playing the Aussie in round one. For me Robertson has to step his game back up after a disappointing couple of months on the table, otherwise he's very vulnerable to an exit in either of the opening two rounds.
Robert Milkins as I have mentioned there will not be afraid of the prospect having beaten Neil on a few occasions in the past, the biggest of which came in the opening round of the 2013 World Championships showing also that he can do it on the big stage in the long format. Robert was unlucky last year to come up against Ronnie O'Sullivan and get beaten 6-0, and of course he'll want to make amends for that defeat and show he can cut it with the best of the best at the Ally Pally. Having made the final of the Ruhr Open and the International Championship semi-finals in the Autumn he appears to be back to some of his best form, though he didn't show it in another disappointing Championship League campaign, though I wouldn't take that into consideration when thinking of his prospects of beating Neil. He certainly has a good chance, and he has to seize on any mistakes the Australian makes in the first four frames which could be the key to that encounter.
Barry Hawkins started his year off in style at the Championship League at Crondon Park where he did a very professional job in winning the opening group and making a maximum 147 break against Maguire on day one there. Having watched a few of Barry's matches in that event he seemed to be returning to some good form there and he has a lot of bad results that he'll be wanting to make amends for this week in the capital. First up is his 2013 match with Judd Trump where he should've made it into the quarter-finals and had shots to win the match but lost from 5-3 ahead there. It got even worse last year as he lost from 5-2 ahead against Ricky Walden, where the key moment was a complete mess that Barry made of a re-spotted black where he could've won the match in that frame had he played the exchange well. It has to be said that the ultimate bottle smashing was handed to Hawkins in the UK Championships where he was somehow beaten from 5-0 ahead in a first to 6 against Nigel Bond, which is a result that still stuns me. It was said on commentary during that game that it could "ruin Barry's season" so the thought in Hawkins mind now has to be to prove them wrong and have a deep run in the Masters for the first time.
Ali Carter of course is still on the comeback trail from Lung Cancer from which he has now been given the all clear which is brilliant news for Ali. So far he's struggled to get his foot back through the door in terms of tour snooker having fallen at the first hurdle in both the German Masters qualifiers and the UK Championships since his return, though his frozen seeding of 13 allows him to play here and there would be no better way to get well and truly back into things with a good run here. 4 wins from 6 games at the Championship League in group 2 is a good return for the Captain and hopefully that will get him back into the groove ahead of his encounter of Hawkins. Both men have a point to prove and it looks to me as though it's a match that you could flip a coin on, but in my mind enough things point to Barry to make him the favourite over Ali here. One last side point I want to bring in on the topic of Ali is that the Ali Carter documentary is being shown on Eurosport at 12.30pm UK Time on Monday before the start of the live Masters action and I'm sure that will be well worth a watch.
Quarter Winner: Robertson to overcome Milkins and Hawkins to edge out Carter before Barry Hawkins makes it into the last 4.
Quarter 3
First Round Draw:Ding Junhui Vs Joe Perry
Mark Allen Vs John Higgins
Ding Junhui became the first Chinese player to become World Number 1 after the UK Championships despite being knocked out in the Last 32 there and failing to qualify for either of the International Championships or Wuxi Classic earlier on in the season. Last year Ding Junhui admitted he came into the Masters unprepared following a first round exit against Shaun Murphy from 4-2 ahead, and that is something that he simply must put right if he is to beat Joe in the opening round this year. In fact, he has lost every single game he's played at the Masters since his victory in 2011 falling to Ronnie in 2012, Robertson in 2013 and Murphy last year. Is this something Ding Junhui will rectify this week? I have to say that he needs to have been working hard in order to prevent another early exit and you'd think he will have done just that. However, there is nothing in his form that would even give us a small indicator that he could possibly come close to repeating that performance of 2011.
If he's seen some of the statistics that I've just rattled off there about Ding Junhui's early Masters exits in recent years, he will take very big heart and a lot of confidence into this game. Joe's form hasn't been fantastic since reaching the Wuxi Classic final in June, but he still had a very good first half to 2014 and he'll be looking for more of the same in 2015 starting with this tournament. What goes against him? Well Ding has won every major meeting between the two players in recent years and sometimes records like that can be provide daunting prospects. However, if Perry finds the game that got him to the Wuxi final or pushed Ronnie so close at the Crucible he's got a great chance of pushing Ding the full 11 frames and snatching victory.
Mark Allen is one of my big contenders for the Masters title this year. I'm sure that Allen would've been slightly relieved to see that Neil Robertson was nowhere near him when the draw came out for the tournament as he has been the man to beat him in each of the last three years at one stage or another. Allen was in fantastic form during the first half of the season, though a Last 32 exit at the UK's brought 2014 to a more disappointing end for the Northern Irishman. If he has continued his hard work over Christmas though, he will be a huge contender for this title, and I keep saying that he is very close to a run that will see him lift a big triple crown event, so I'm almost sat here waiting for him to do so now, but will it be this week?
John Higgins is the first man that will want to have a big say about that, but can he do so? In the last two years at the Alexandra Palace he's had disappointing quarter-final exits against Murphy from 4-1 and 5-4 ahead, and against Selby from 5-3 up so he'll want to make amends for those and go on further this year. Allen though provides a very tough opponent for John to beat, and Higgins has hardly been in any kind of form for a long while now and you have to feel we are at the stage now where his days in the top 16 could well be numbered if he soon doesn't get himself together. While this week obviously has no impact on his ranking position, a couple of good victories could spark him back to life but there is simply no suggestion or not even a small hint of this happening for John I'm afraid, though of course I may be completely wrong and in some ways I hope I am.
Quarter Winner: Ding to beat Perry and Allen to beat Higgins before Mark Allen takes the quarter
Quarter 4
First Round Draw:Judd Trump Vs Stephen Maguire
Mark Selby Vs Shaun Murphy
World Champion Mark Selby kicks things off on Sunday afternoon with what on paper could well be the tie of the opening round fixtures against Shaun Murphy. Selby in recent years has really been the king of the Masters and whatever the venue it seems like he owns the place, with a final appearance last year and 3 Masters titles already to his name. However, since becoming crowned World Champion Mark has had a mixed time of things failing to qualify for the International Championships and suffering a Last 64 exit in the UK Championships shortly after the birth of his first child, which some people targeted as the reason behind his demise, but there is another theory which I think could have something behind it possibly. Mark said in interview some time ago that when he first became world number 1 the pressure he put on himself and the expectancy to dominate and perform on a regular basis heaped too much upon himself and resulted in his best game going missing for some time and a certain reliance on his "B game" to survive. It may be complete rubbish, but perhaps getting called out to every arena as the current world champion is heaping a similar amount of pressure and expectancy on him to perform, and the pressures of now having to perform not just for him but for his family as a new father can often prove tough to deal with at first. If he's off his game at all on Sunday, Shaun is a top quality player and will be sure to take advantage.
Shaun Murphy has in fact been ill over the new year period, first with a virus which he tells me became a bacterial chest infection and that it's the most ill he's felt in years. How much may this have affected his preparation? Well, he did have to pull out of the Championship League group one, which is unheard of for Shaun as he enters most things and plays in everything that he enters. However, I'm assured that he has been on the practice table loads and has not let the "snotty mess" get in the way of his preparations for Selby too much, though he may not be 100% in terms of health for Sunday but I'd take a punt that he'll be very close to it. Prior to Christmas, Shaun was in good form winning back to back European Tour events and a bad couple of frames in his UK Last 16 match with Marco Fu costing him what could've been a really big run in York. The Masters of course is the one event that Shaun wants in the remainder of his career the most in order to complete his triple crown. In recent years it seemed like he was edging close but was unable to get over the line, and in the period across 2012 and 2013 where Shaun lost in a lot of semi-finals and finals it would've been his losses in the Masters that hurt the most. He lost to Neil Robertson in both the 2012 final and the 2013 semi-final before being somewhat dismantled by his first round opponent Mark Selby in last years semi-finals. Out of the three it is that one against Mark that hurt the most and you could tell that immediately from his post match interview with the BBC where he even suggested doing something else as well as snooker with things going badly, in an interview that Murphy may be embarrassed to look back on now, and a series of events that Shaun will certainly be looking to avenge this week as he seeks the one title he now wants the most.
Judd Trump is the man at the moment in my view and I even selected him to be my Player of the Year such is the form he's been in of late. It all started to come together fully for Judd in the Champion of Champions where he got back to his very best scoring form and seemed to have found the perfect mix of attacking snooker and safety play. He went on to make the final of that Champion of Champions where he narrowly lost out to O'Sullivan 10-7 and it was O'Sullivan that foiled him again after a stunning UK Championships and an even better comeback from 4-9 to force the decider before losing out 10-9. Trump has also been performing well in the European Tour events and it is these events that seem to be fairing him well in maintaining his performance ready for the big events to follow. The perfect preparation for Judd seems to have come along in the shape of the Championship League where he played some more brilliant snooker over the course of the final three days having struggled on day one of the first group as he shook off the last of his Christmas cobwebs. Ronnie O'Sullivan seems like the only player that come close to Judd at his best over any kind of format around best-of-11 frames or longer and it's my opinion that if the Rocket doesn't make the final here Trump will not be stopped from completing the second part of his triple crown by winning this title.
Stephen Maguire is the first man that will look to have a go at stopping him, and the Scotsman did seem to return to form in December making the UK Championship semi-finals (where he lost to Judd) and winning the Lisbon Open European Tour event. Other than that Stephen has struggled really in the last 12 months and hasn't been anywhere near his best form, and 2015 didn't get off to an encouraging start as he was eliminated from the first group of the Championship League winning only two of the six matches he played and the least frames out of anybody in the seven man group (only 8). When you look at their overall head to head record Stephen seems to have the edge, but when you then look closer and pick out their really major clashes over the course of the last couple of years it is Trump that actually has the advantage, especially in their most recent meetings at the UK Championships and Champion of Champions just this season where Stephen had to seize upon the scraps that Judd left him, and if Judd does play as well on Monday afternoon as he did on those two occasions I can't see anyway that Stephen could win the six frames he'll require for victory.
Quarter Winner: Trump to beat Maguire and Murphy to beat Selby before Judd Trump makes it into the semi-finals
Tournament Runner-Up: Barry Hawkins
Tournament Winner: Judd Trump
Whoever the winner is this coming week at the Ally Pally, you know they'd have beaten some top quality players and will deserve the overall tournament victory and a triple crown win. In terms of other some of the other stuff to look out for, I think there are that many first round and possible second round games that will all be on a knife edge to the extent that I think we'll see a large number of deciders in the capital. The quality will be extremely high though and I'm going to throw in an early call that there will be a maximum 147 break at some stage over the 8 days, though don't ask me to call who it will be because that may be pushing it. I'll of course be back at regular intervals throughout the week with updates from the tournament and I'm really looking forward now to relaxing in front of the television and enjoying the best of the best entertain us with some great snooker.
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