We're at the halfway stage of this years Masters and so far we've been treated to some fabulous snooker by the best players in the world. That will only get better and hopefully there will be plenty more close matches as we roll into the last 8 and the business end of this tournament as the winner will be decided within the next four days.
As I mentioned in Tuesdays piece at the halfway point of the Last 16, Shaun Murphy, Marco Fu, Stephen Maguire and Neil Robertson were the first four players into the quarter-finals, and they have been joined by Ronnie O'Sullivan, who equalled Stephen Hendry's all-time centuries record on the way to a 6-4 win over Ricky Walden, Ali Carter, who thrashed Barry Hawkins 6-1 as he continues his comeback to the circuit in what is a superb victory for Ali, Mark Allen who was the victor over a John Higgins who made 3 centuries one of which was nearly a maximum break in frame nine and Joe Perry who overcame a very much off colour Ding Junhui to secure his first Masters victory.
Last 16 Results:
Ronnie O'Sullivan 6-4 Ricky Walden
Marco Fu 6-3 Stuart Bingham (included a 147 for Fu)
Ali Carter 6-1 Barry Hawkins
Neil Robertson 6-4 Robert Milkins
Joe Perry 6-3 Ding Junhui
Mark Allen 6-4 John Higgins
Stephen Maguire 6-4 Judd Trump
Shaun Murphy 6-5 Mark Selby
Some of the favourites for the event may have exited early on here, but the line-up is still fantastic as you'd expect from a tournament featuring the 16 best players in the world. As you can see from those results also, most of the matches ran close finishing up either 6-4 or 6-5 and I certainly expect more of the same from the four matches that are coming our way over the next two days at the Alexandra Palace.
QUARTER-FINAL PREVIEW:
Ronnie O'Sullivan Vs Marco Fu - Ronnie O'Sullivan may have levelled Stephen Hendry's century record with two centuries in his match against Ricky Walden, but for large parts of the match he looked far from his best, and even he recognised after the match that his playing levels had dipped in the last 18 months (which is tough to tell when he's still breezing to big titles and making world finals) but had Ricky been playing better himself he could so easily have found a way past O'Sullivan. In fact Ronnie somewhat uncharacteristically (at least of the new Ronnie O'Sullivan since his work with Dr Steve Peters) started to show signs that he was struggling at times mentally, becoming frustrated when he continually failed to kill off the match almost gifting Ricky chances to come back at him from behind in frames eight and nine of the match before eventually he killed off the match. The only thing that gave Ronnie such a luxury though was Ricky's own slow start and the start that both players make to this match will be the key. Marco got off to a very good start, and kept that good form going throughout the match as he knocked in some terrific breaks and played well with three centuries including a 147 break. The problems Marco will have though is that in the past he could be accused of possibly being a little bit timid against O'Sullivan as many players have been in the past, and of course his other issue has been keeping his form up from match to match because he has had so many good matches which have been followed immediately by poor ones, or the other way around. However, even when he was playing poorly before Christmas he was managing to pull off good results and now that he appears to be in some better form, if he can keep that up he'll be a handful for anyone, including Ronnie and if Ronnie's not at his best again he could well be in trouble here.
Prediction: 6-5 win for Marco Fu
Neil Robertson Vs Ali Carter - As I mentioned in my piece on Tuesday, Neil Robertson didn't start off great against Robert Milkins but I think the fact that Robert didn't capitalise on a couple of Neil's errors led to him losing focus a bit it seemed and gifting Robert more chances. However, when he was at full concentration from the very start of frames he looked as dangerous as ever and he played some great stuff in the last three frames to seal victory there. What Neil will want to do against Ali is play that way from the start and he knows he can't take any liberties with Ali after how well he played against Hawkins, and Carter is one of those players that seems to bring the best out in Neil and I expect him to play well again here. Ali received a brilliant ovation as he entered the arena last night and that may have been one of the things that inspired him to play so well last night as he looked very determined all night and scored very well, jumping on Barry Hawkins mistakes of which there were quite a few. If Carter plays like that against Robertson then he has a great chance of victory, but equally if Robertson steps up and plays the standard he did towards the end of his match with Milkins then Ali will have to play that way again to stand any chance. After long periods out of the game though, which Ali has unfortunately suffered having fought off cancer, consistency is one of the hardest things to obtain on return in the early stages. However, one of the things that stands out from all of the things Ali has said about his battles with cancer, and that is that he has nothing to fear now in life, especially on a snooker table.
Prediction: 6-4 to Neil Robertson
Joe Perry Vs Mark Allen - This should be yet another close match, and will probably become tense as the four players in the bottom half of the draw sense an opportunity as neither of them have ever won a Masters title, yet one of them will be in Sunday's final. Joe Perry's victory over Ding Junhui saw him play some good snooker in what was a very good win (and his first in seven attempts at the Masters), although he did receive a little bit of help from Ding Junhui who performed very poorly once again and really does need to step up before the seasons end. Joe did a good job of taking most of the chances that were gifted to him though, and didn't show much sign of nerves as the winning line approached. However, against Mark Allen Joe is going to have to take every chance that comes his way, if Allen plays the way he did against John Higgins. Mark had to be in ruthless form here as Higgins was playing so well that he just had to convert any small chance or risk losing the frame against a man that made 3 centuries (and could've had 4) in the four frames that he won. Allen however, seized on the occasional mistakes that Higgins made, and scored very well himself so I expect him to keep this up against Joe, because Mark has been playing very well this season and had good form at the beginning of the season despite disappointing in the UK Championships. It is time though that Mark Allen started to convert the chances he's got here in big tournaments into a big more, as I believe that a big BBC tournament win can't be very far away for him and the way that the draw has opened up in his half, could make this year his.
Prediction: 6-4 to Mark Allen
Stephen Maguire Vs Shaun Murphy - This match jumps out more than the other two as a match that could become very close towards the back end, but especially so between two players neither of whom have ever won a masters title, while both will be desperate to do so and as the bottom half really is anyone's in my view the match could certainly become cagey in the latter stages, and it could all come down to nerve. Both players had to show plenty of nerve in the last 16, so they'll certainly be ready when the time comes to show it again on Friday night mind you. Firstly, Shaun Murphy looked good at times and had certainly improved in one area which was winning frames that he couldn't kill off in one visit, which was a massive thing that let him down a lot against Marco in the UK's and Shaun has been working very hard ahead of this tournament and in between matches (having played on Sunday and had the luxury of four full days off) to make sure that he's in the best shape possible to have a run at winning the event that he so desperately wants to add to his CV and that could well spur him on in this match as it did against Selby on Sunday. Stephen Maguire however, is in fantastic form and he had to be to beat Judd Trump from 2-0 down and the particular turning point came as Trump should've gone 3-0 ahead but was suddenly level at 2-2 little over 15 minutes afterwards. From there Maguire fed off of that weakness and was gifted a couple of chances towards the end of the match as Judd started to play quite poorly but the work that Maguire had to do he did to perfection and I expect him to continue in that way again here. It's hard to pick out a clear thing that makes one of these players the favourite against the other to be honest, and the only thing that sticks out at me is how Stephen hasn't quite been consistent and has said he's found it hard to work on the practice table at times between tournaments while Shaun is always working very hard, and Murphy also has the head to head edge on recent encounters and especially the ones that have gone close as well, but this could honestly go either way depending how both players play on their day.
Prediction: 6-4 to Shaun Murphy
I don't think things are any clearer as they were at the start of the tournament as to who will win the event, as anyone left in is capable of taking the title on Sunday night. Of the players I expected to do well, my tournament semi-finalist tips aren't doing so well with only Mark Allen remaining as my tournament winner and runner-up tips fell at the first hurdle which you have to say is poor by my standards and hopefully my tipping luck shall change for the rest of the tournament. That's all from me for now, and I'll be back early on Saturday with a look ahead to the semi-final matches.
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