This weekend we have the World Seniors Championships on the snooker circuit which are being held at the Preston Guildhall and being broadcast on Sky Sports. This is the only event now being broadcast on Sky Sports after the Snooker Shoot-Out has been taken on by ITV4 and that event will be coming very soon.
The seniors championship has taken on an interesting turn in the last few years. Last year the age limit was lowered to anybody who was 40 years of age or over at some point during the 2014/2015 season. What that led to was Mark Williams becoming the seniors champion at the age of 39, as his 40th birthday was not until after the tournament.
This year, of the 16 players in the event only four of them are no longer on the professional tour which means the event feels like a professional event. The format is still only a best-of-3 frames throughout the event with a random draw after each round is completed which makes it just that little bit tougher to try and pick out the winner.
First Round Draw: (Picks in Bold)
Peter Ebdon Vs Nigel Bond - Saturday 30th 1pm
Mark Williams Vs Anthony Hamilton - Saturday 30th 2pm
Robert Milkins Vs Tony Drago - Saturday 30th 3pm
Darren Morgan Vs Joe Johnson - Saturday 30th 4pm
Mark Davis Vs Ken Doherty - Saturday 30th 7pm
Dominic Dale Vs John Parrott - Saturday 30th 8pm
Fergal O'Brien Vs Rory McLeod - Saturday 30th 9pm
Jimmy White Vs Gary Lees - Saturday 30th 10pm
That's the draw for the opening round but of course with a random draw it means that anyone could play anyone in the coming rounds it makes it very difficult to try and predict two finalists.
Mark Williams is a clear favourite for the event after his exploits in Group 4 of the Championship League and of course being the events defending champion after his runaway win last year.
If you're looking for some outsiders then somebody like Dominic Dale has been playing some good snooker at points this year and can easily come through a few best-of-3's.
Darren Morgan is a former seniors champion and he has Joe Johnson in the first round who didn't look particularly capable in his appearance in the seniors last year, so if the draw is kind to Morgan then he may be able to produce a run. On the other hand, with 12 main tour professionals it is hard to see someone like Morgan, Johnson, Parrott or Gary Lees who have not been competing on the TV regularly or on the tour for sometime to come through.
Fergal O'Brien was the runner-up last year and played some great snooker to achieve that, and as he is one of the four players in this event playing in the German Masters (along with Williams, Doherty and his first round opponent McLeod) then he will be looking to find some form and get a little bit of good practice in for Berlin.
All of the first round matches are played on Saturday over two sessions on a one-table set-up, before the quarter-finals are played on Sunday afternoon and the semi-finals and final are on Sunday evening and it will be a fun weekend to see some of the guys who are no longer regulars on our TV screens (even if many are still on the tour), and I hope you all enjoy it at home too.
Friday, 29 January 2016
German Masters Preview
One of my favourite events starts up on Wednesday in what is regarded as one of the best venues that the snooker circuit travels to at the Berlin Tempodrome for the German Masters. In the same format as last year qualifying was played prior to Christmas, meaning that 32 players will be at the venue competing for the title over the five days.
Part of the reason I personally fell in love with this event was the opportunity to watch it in it's entirety after I was ill during the 2012 and 2013 editions. In 2012 I was suffering from an ear infection, while in 2013 it was a chest infection and the one match that always stands out to me is the superb Ronnie O'Sullivan comeback in the first round in 2012 where he beat Andrew Higginson who missed match ball for a 5-1 victory. Ronnie went on to win the event after a tricky period that had seen him fall into a battle to stay in the top 16 for the World Championships, which after securing his seeding with a great period from February onwards, he of course went on to win.
In the two rounds of qualifying held in Wigan, 10 of the worlds top 22 players were knocked out of the competition. That means that UK Champion Neil Robertson, Masters Champion Ronnie O'Sullivan, International Champion John Higgins along with Joe Perry, Ricky Walden, Ding Junhui, Michael White, Robert Milkins and David Gilbert all will not be present while Matt Selt failed to even enter originally.
What we do have in Berlin is the world number 1 and defending champion Mark Selby, world champion Stuart Bingham and the last couple of German Masters runners-up Shaun Murphy and Judd Trump and Masters runner-up Barry Hawkins.
We also have one non-tour player this year with Zhao Xintong qualifying and he will play Luca Brecel in a match that most likely won't be on the TV table, but I think it would be a fantastic advert for the future of snooker.
Time to get into the meat of things then with my analysis of the draw and predictions for the event.
Mark Selby Vs Steven Hallworth
Stephen Maguire Vs Ken Doherty
Graeme Dott Vs Tian Pengfei
Barry Hawkins Vs Alan McManus
The top quarter sees our defending champion Mark Selby, Championship League group 3 winner from earlier in the week in Stephen Maguire as well as Masters runner-up Barry Hawkins.
Barry Hawkins is of course in great form after reaching the final of the Masters before being thrashed 10-1 in that final by Ronnie O'Sullivan Hawkins looked to be striking the ball very nicely in that tournament and he'll be looking forward to getting out at the Tempodrome where he has previously reached the semi-finals and felt the buzz of playing on the one table set-up. Other than the Masters, Hawkins main successes of the year have come early in the season on the European Tour so that bodes well for another trip to mainland Europe and I would expect Hawkins to reach at least the quarter-finals this week.
Stephen Maguire won the third group of the Championship League this week, only losing one game in the process of that achievement and it will be very interesting to see if he can keep striking the ball well and playing in the same way out in Germany. Maguire has not had the best season to be fair, with plenty of early exits being mixed in there, but he may have turned a corner coming into the new year as it's very odd to see a player like Stephen playing poorly for a whole season. He was a semi-finalist at the Tempodrome before meeting eventual champion Mark Selby, and that is a test that he will have to face in the Last 16 if both men in question win their opening games on Wednesday.
Mark Selby is of course the defending champion in Berlin and the most successful player in the events history, showing how much he just loves coming to Germany. Last year he came into the event having failed to win a major title as World champion, and he has yet to win a major title in the 2015/2016 so far also. What can be said for Selby is that he has lost to the eventual champion of the Masters (Ronnie O'Sullivan 6-3 in the quarters), UK Championship (6-0 to Robertson in the semi's) and the International Championship (9-4 to John Higgins in the semi-finals). He was also the runner-up in both groups of the Championship League this week, and since the new year he has been striking the ball with a great deal of crispness and confidence, the sort of combination that will make him a major threat once again in Berlin this week.
Quarter Winner: Mark Selby
Judd Trump Vs Ali Carter
Zhang Anda Vs Alfie Burden
Mark Williams Vs Martin Gould
Shaun Murphy Vs Ben Woollaston
There are some slight surprise names in the second quarter but we still have previous winner and Championship League group 4 winner from this week in Mark Williams, along with 2015 runner-up in Berlin Shaun Murphy and 2014 finalist Judd Trump.
Judd Trump has had an interesting season so far since the disappointment of losing out in the semi-final of the World Championships. He made the semi-finals of the Masters recently with a fantastic performance against Neil Robertson but then he couldn't re-create the same form against Barry Hawkins. That is the sort of form that has defined Judd's season after capitulating in the UK Championships and failing to qualify for the International Championship. He could easily get to the final this week just as he did two years ago, but I think he could fall foul of a very difficult Last 32 against Ali Carter. Ali has a good record in Germany being a previous winner of both this event in 2013 and the Paul Hunter Classic in Furth earlier in the season, and he has a good record in previous meetings with Trump so I feel like Carter could edge that match 5-3 or 5-4.
Mark Williams had an interesting week at the Championship League this week after just managing to survive after a poor Monday but then going on to win the fourth group on the Wednesday and Thursday. He seemed to be striking the ball very well and that sort of match practice will be building Williams up nicely for a busy period. At the time of writing he still has the World Seniors to play over the weekend before turning up in Berlin, making it a busy period for him. He has a tough draw in the first round against Martin Gould where Martin is more than capable of beating him over the best-of-9 frames format. Equally, if Williams carries on striking the ball nicely and playing like he did in the Championship League then he is a contender to go far in the competition.
Shaun Murphy has had a while off since he lost on the first afternoon of the Masters three weeks ago. Since then he will have been working hard on the practice table at his house to get ready for this event and improve on a season that, compared to last season, has disappointed. He's been a regular in the last 16 of events, losing at that stage in two of the four European Tour events he has entered and then failing to get past that stage at the UK and International Championships, Champion of Champion, Australian Open, Shanghai Masters and of course the Masters. However, he does enjoy playing in Germany and has won the most prize money in the German Masters of anyone not to have already taken the title. He made the final of the Paul Hunter Classic in Furth in August and only narrowly lost out in last years Tempodrome finale to Mark Selby just three months after winning the Ruhr Open in Mulheim. He also has a good record against his first round opponent in Ben Woollaston which is important as he is well aware of the threat Ben poses and the talented player that he is. With events coming thick and fast after this for the Magician, he'll want to make sure there are no more early exits and long breaks between play starting this week.
Quarter Winner: Shaun Murphy
Luca Brecel Vs Zhao Xintong
Marco Fu Vs Kurt Maflin
Mark Allen Vs Mark Joyce
Mark King Vs Stuart Carrington
This is a very exciting section with the young guns match up between Luca Brecel and Zhao Xintong while Gibraltar Open champion Marco Fu takes on big hitting Kurt Maflin and Champion of Champions finalist Mark Allen also features.
Marco Fu has had a quiet start to 2016 with a 6-0 loss to Neil Robertson at the Masters where he had come down with a virus that left him unable to play to his usual standards and in the end he was fed up and taking a lash at anything in sight. At the Championship League this week he was relegated from group 3 after only one win from six round robin matches and forfeiting his match with Joe Perry after eventually losing all three frames for not arriving in time. His first round opponent this week is Kurt Maflin and I fancy Kurt to win this match if Marco's poor start to the year continues. Whether he is still struggling to see off the virus is unknown but also unlikely as this was now over a couple of weeks ago, but we all know that Maflin is a very heavy scorer on his day and after a quiet season so far, it's about the time of the year that Kurt springs into action and has a couple of profitable tournaments.
Luca Brecel could well be a big threat this week in Berlin. The young man faces a player even younger than himself in Zhao Xintong who has been terrorising some of the established players whenever he competes in pro events. Brecel though is starting to display some more consistency this season in my opinion. A last 16 appearance at the UK Championships is good news for Luca and some good results on the European Tour mean that he is well and truly in the mix for another appearance at the Players Championship finals. A video came up on my Twitter timeline this week which showed Luca making a 147 in practice, but the twist was he was wearing a camera on his head filming the break from his point of view. There's no doubt about his potting ability and break building qualities, and in my view he is a few improvements in concentration and safety play away from making the next big step. With a draw this week that could offer a chance of a deep run I am intrigued to see how far he can go.
Mark Allen is the favourite to win this quarter of the draw and make it into the last four of the competition. His first round draw against Mark Joyce won't be too much of a challenge if he continues his good form and with a possible last 16 game with either Mark King or Stuart Carrington, if he can knuckle down this week, stay focussed and carry on some of the good form that he has shown he has a very nice opportunity for a great run in this event. A winner in Bulgaria this season and at the Paul Hunter Classic in 2014 and a back to back winner on the European tour in 2013, Allen usually goes well in mainland Europe and the only thing missing from that record is a strong run in Berlin. His win at the Masters against Shaun Murphy showed that he was starting the year in a similar fashion to how it finished with that Champion of Champions final in November, and despite disappointing in the quarter-finals against Barry Hawkins he is still going along nicely and a big threat for this week.
Quarter Winner: Mark Allen
Michael Holt Vs Ian Burns
Kyren Wilson Vs Rory McLeod
Liang Wenbo Vs Ryan Day
Stuart Bingham Vs Fergal O'Brien
The final section of the draw features world champion Stuart Bingham, UK runner-up Liang Wenbo and Shanghai Masters winner Kyren Wilson as well as a semi-finalist in the Paul Hunter Classic from back in August Michael Holt, who's record in Germany is fairly good and with his draw could make him a good shout as an outsider for this week.
Kyren Wilson has certainly carried on from his breakthrough event in Shanghai this season after reaching the semi-finals in the Champion of Champions and now this week in Berlin he has a chance for another good pay cheque. In the first round he takes on Rory McLeod who, despite winning the Ruhr Open, has been very hit and miss and will not pose much threat to Kyren if Wilson's scoring form is up to scratch. Then in the Last 16 he could face either Michael Holt, who he beat in the last 16 of his Shanghai Masters winning run or Ian Burns. The chance is there if he plays well enough to reach at least the quarter's and from there he could do exactly what he did last September so may be worth a look at an outside bet for the week.
Liang Wenbo was a semi-finalist in this event a year ago, and came close to the final before Shaun Murphy won the last three frames against him. Since then he has been in the UK final, which got him into his first ever Masters, while an appearance in the semi-finals of the Gibraltar Open means that he is in a solid position to qualify for the Players Championship finals. His first round opponent this week is Ryan Day who also has a good record in this event over the last couple of years. A year ago he reached the quarter-finals before losing to Wenbo and in 2014 it was the semi-finals when he lost to Ding Junhui the eventual winner in a deciding frame. For me though, Day is still failing to kick on and get that big victory that will get him back where his talent suggests that he belongs, and that is in the top 16. In fact, Wenbo's run to the UK final which earned him his top 16 and Masters spot almost feels like he has overtaken Ryan Day in a sense that they were two very similar players in the way that their respective careers had panned out to that point. Liang now has the belief that he can play well on the big stage and he could soon overtake Ding Junhui as China's Number 1 snooker star. If he can get past a tough first round opponent in Day on Thursday then he has every chance of being in the latter stages of this event with the way he has been playing recently.
Finally, World champion Stuart Bingham will be hoping to make it third time lucky against Fergal O'Brien this season, having lost to Fergal from two up with three to play on two occasions already in the 2015/2016 campaign. The recent signs have been good for Bingham as he ended 2015 with a semi-final on the European Tour and two good wins to qualify for the Tempodrome. Then 2016 has begun with two nice wins at the Masters before losing to eventual winner O'Sullivan in the semi's. He has obviously struggled as a first time winner of the World Championships, to carry that tag around without feeling the pressure, but as I suggested in my Masters preview the Christmas break may have helped him to come to terms with his achievements and move on. It wasn't until the German Masters a year ago that Mark Selby began to show any form as world champion, so that may give Stuart a little bit more confidence this week, and make him a genuine threat for the title.
Quarter Winner: Stuart Bingham
Tournament Runner-Up: Stuart Bingham
Tournament Winner: Mark Selby
The tournament will be covered in it's whole on Eurosport as usual and the format is best-of-9 frames matches up to the semi-finals which are best-of-11 before the final over best-of-17 frames. On Wednesday we have eight first round games from the top half of the draw, while the eight from the bottom half are played on Thursday morning and Thursday afternoon. Thursday evening sees the Last 16 matches from the top half of the draw, with the Last 16 matches from the bottom half being played on Friday afternoon before the quarter-finals on Friday evening. Both semi-finals are then on Saturday when we reach the one table set-up and of course the final is over two sessions on the Sunday.
I will be back for updates throughout the competition as I will preview the first half of the last 16 after the opening days play, and the second half of the last 16 after Thursdays play.
Part of the reason I personally fell in love with this event was the opportunity to watch it in it's entirety after I was ill during the 2012 and 2013 editions. In 2012 I was suffering from an ear infection, while in 2013 it was a chest infection and the one match that always stands out to me is the superb Ronnie O'Sullivan comeback in the first round in 2012 where he beat Andrew Higginson who missed match ball for a 5-1 victory. Ronnie went on to win the event after a tricky period that had seen him fall into a battle to stay in the top 16 for the World Championships, which after securing his seeding with a great period from February onwards, he of course went on to win.
In the two rounds of qualifying held in Wigan, 10 of the worlds top 22 players were knocked out of the competition. That means that UK Champion Neil Robertson, Masters Champion Ronnie O'Sullivan, International Champion John Higgins along with Joe Perry, Ricky Walden, Ding Junhui, Michael White, Robert Milkins and David Gilbert all will not be present while Matt Selt failed to even enter originally.
What we do have in Berlin is the world number 1 and defending champion Mark Selby, world champion Stuart Bingham and the last couple of German Masters runners-up Shaun Murphy and Judd Trump and Masters runner-up Barry Hawkins.
We also have one non-tour player this year with Zhao Xintong qualifying and he will play Luca Brecel in a match that most likely won't be on the TV table, but I think it would be a fantastic advert for the future of snooker.
Time to get into the meat of things then with my analysis of the draw and predictions for the event.
Quarter 1
Last 32 Draw: (Picks in Bold)Mark Selby Vs Steven Hallworth
Stephen Maguire Vs Ken Doherty
Graeme Dott Vs Tian Pengfei
Barry Hawkins Vs Alan McManus
The top quarter sees our defending champion Mark Selby, Championship League group 3 winner from earlier in the week in Stephen Maguire as well as Masters runner-up Barry Hawkins.
Barry Hawkins is of course in great form after reaching the final of the Masters before being thrashed 10-1 in that final by Ronnie O'Sullivan Hawkins looked to be striking the ball very nicely in that tournament and he'll be looking forward to getting out at the Tempodrome where he has previously reached the semi-finals and felt the buzz of playing on the one table set-up. Other than the Masters, Hawkins main successes of the year have come early in the season on the European Tour so that bodes well for another trip to mainland Europe and I would expect Hawkins to reach at least the quarter-finals this week.
Stephen Maguire won the third group of the Championship League this week, only losing one game in the process of that achievement and it will be very interesting to see if he can keep striking the ball well and playing in the same way out in Germany. Maguire has not had the best season to be fair, with plenty of early exits being mixed in there, but he may have turned a corner coming into the new year as it's very odd to see a player like Stephen playing poorly for a whole season. He was a semi-finalist at the Tempodrome before meeting eventual champion Mark Selby, and that is a test that he will have to face in the Last 16 if both men in question win their opening games on Wednesday.
Mark Selby is of course the defending champion in Berlin and the most successful player in the events history, showing how much he just loves coming to Germany. Last year he came into the event having failed to win a major title as World champion, and he has yet to win a major title in the 2015/2016 so far also. What can be said for Selby is that he has lost to the eventual champion of the Masters (Ronnie O'Sullivan 6-3 in the quarters), UK Championship (6-0 to Robertson in the semi's) and the International Championship (9-4 to John Higgins in the semi-finals). He was also the runner-up in both groups of the Championship League this week, and since the new year he has been striking the ball with a great deal of crispness and confidence, the sort of combination that will make him a major threat once again in Berlin this week.
Quarter Winner: Mark Selby
Quarter 2
Last 32 Draw: (Picks in Bold)Judd Trump Vs Ali Carter
Zhang Anda Vs Alfie Burden
Mark Williams Vs Martin Gould
Shaun Murphy Vs Ben Woollaston
There are some slight surprise names in the second quarter but we still have previous winner and Championship League group 4 winner from this week in Mark Williams, along with 2015 runner-up in Berlin Shaun Murphy and 2014 finalist Judd Trump.
Judd Trump has had an interesting season so far since the disappointment of losing out in the semi-final of the World Championships. He made the semi-finals of the Masters recently with a fantastic performance against Neil Robertson but then he couldn't re-create the same form against Barry Hawkins. That is the sort of form that has defined Judd's season after capitulating in the UK Championships and failing to qualify for the International Championship. He could easily get to the final this week just as he did two years ago, but I think he could fall foul of a very difficult Last 32 against Ali Carter. Ali has a good record in Germany being a previous winner of both this event in 2013 and the Paul Hunter Classic in Furth earlier in the season, and he has a good record in previous meetings with Trump so I feel like Carter could edge that match 5-3 or 5-4.
Mark Williams had an interesting week at the Championship League this week after just managing to survive after a poor Monday but then going on to win the fourth group on the Wednesday and Thursday. He seemed to be striking the ball very well and that sort of match practice will be building Williams up nicely for a busy period. At the time of writing he still has the World Seniors to play over the weekend before turning up in Berlin, making it a busy period for him. He has a tough draw in the first round against Martin Gould where Martin is more than capable of beating him over the best-of-9 frames format. Equally, if Williams carries on striking the ball nicely and playing like he did in the Championship League then he is a contender to go far in the competition.
Shaun Murphy has had a while off since he lost on the first afternoon of the Masters three weeks ago. Since then he will have been working hard on the practice table at his house to get ready for this event and improve on a season that, compared to last season, has disappointed. He's been a regular in the last 16 of events, losing at that stage in two of the four European Tour events he has entered and then failing to get past that stage at the UK and International Championships, Champion of Champion, Australian Open, Shanghai Masters and of course the Masters. However, he does enjoy playing in Germany and has won the most prize money in the German Masters of anyone not to have already taken the title. He made the final of the Paul Hunter Classic in Furth in August and only narrowly lost out in last years Tempodrome finale to Mark Selby just three months after winning the Ruhr Open in Mulheim. He also has a good record against his first round opponent in Ben Woollaston which is important as he is well aware of the threat Ben poses and the talented player that he is. With events coming thick and fast after this for the Magician, he'll want to make sure there are no more early exits and long breaks between play starting this week.
Quarter Winner: Shaun Murphy
Quarter 3
Last 32 Draw: (Picks in Bold)Luca Brecel Vs Zhao Xintong
Marco Fu Vs Kurt Maflin
Mark Allen Vs Mark Joyce
Mark King Vs Stuart Carrington
This is a very exciting section with the young guns match up between Luca Brecel and Zhao Xintong while Gibraltar Open champion Marco Fu takes on big hitting Kurt Maflin and Champion of Champions finalist Mark Allen also features.
Marco Fu has had a quiet start to 2016 with a 6-0 loss to Neil Robertson at the Masters where he had come down with a virus that left him unable to play to his usual standards and in the end he was fed up and taking a lash at anything in sight. At the Championship League this week he was relegated from group 3 after only one win from six round robin matches and forfeiting his match with Joe Perry after eventually losing all three frames for not arriving in time. His first round opponent this week is Kurt Maflin and I fancy Kurt to win this match if Marco's poor start to the year continues. Whether he is still struggling to see off the virus is unknown but also unlikely as this was now over a couple of weeks ago, but we all know that Maflin is a very heavy scorer on his day and after a quiet season so far, it's about the time of the year that Kurt springs into action and has a couple of profitable tournaments.
Luca Brecel could well be a big threat this week in Berlin. The young man faces a player even younger than himself in Zhao Xintong who has been terrorising some of the established players whenever he competes in pro events. Brecel though is starting to display some more consistency this season in my opinion. A last 16 appearance at the UK Championships is good news for Luca and some good results on the European Tour mean that he is well and truly in the mix for another appearance at the Players Championship finals. A video came up on my Twitter timeline this week which showed Luca making a 147 in practice, but the twist was he was wearing a camera on his head filming the break from his point of view. There's no doubt about his potting ability and break building qualities, and in my view he is a few improvements in concentration and safety play away from making the next big step. With a draw this week that could offer a chance of a deep run I am intrigued to see how far he can go.
Mark Allen is the favourite to win this quarter of the draw and make it into the last four of the competition. His first round draw against Mark Joyce won't be too much of a challenge if he continues his good form and with a possible last 16 game with either Mark King or Stuart Carrington, if he can knuckle down this week, stay focussed and carry on some of the good form that he has shown he has a very nice opportunity for a great run in this event. A winner in Bulgaria this season and at the Paul Hunter Classic in 2014 and a back to back winner on the European tour in 2013, Allen usually goes well in mainland Europe and the only thing missing from that record is a strong run in Berlin. His win at the Masters against Shaun Murphy showed that he was starting the year in a similar fashion to how it finished with that Champion of Champions final in November, and despite disappointing in the quarter-finals against Barry Hawkins he is still going along nicely and a big threat for this week.
Quarter Winner: Mark Allen
Quarter 4
Last 32 Draw: (Picks in Bold)Michael Holt Vs Ian Burns
Kyren Wilson Vs Rory McLeod
Liang Wenbo Vs Ryan Day
Stuart Bingham Vs Fergal O'Brien
The final section of the draw features world champion Stuart Bingham, UK runner-up Liang Wenbo and Shanghai Masters winner Kyren Wilson as well as a semi-finalist in the Paul Hunter Classic from back in August Michael Holt, who's record in Germany is fairly good and with his draw could make him a good shout as an outsider for this week.
Kyren Wilson has certainly carried on from his breakthrough event in Shanghai this season after reaching the semi-finals in the Champion of Champions and now this week in Berlin he has a chance for another good pay cheque. In the first round he takes on Rory McLeod who, despite winning the Ruhr Open, has been very hit and miss and will not pose much threat to Kyren if Wilson's scoring form is up to scratch. Then in the Last 16 he could face either Michael Holt, who he beat in the last 16 of his Shanghai Masters winning run or Ian Burns. The chance is there if he plays well enough to reach at least the quarter's and from there he could do exactly what he did last September so may be worth a look at an outside bet for the week.
Liang Wenbo was a semi-finalist in this event a year ago, and came close to the final before Shaun Murphy won the last three frames against him. Since then he has been in the UK final, which got him into his first ever Masters, while an appearance in the semi-finals of the Gibraltar Open means that he is in a solid position to qualify for the Players Championship finals. His first round opponent this week is Ryan Day who also has a good record in this event over the last couple of years. A year ago he reached the quarter-finals before losing to Wenbo and in 2014 it was the semi-finals when he lost to Ding Junhui the eventual winner in a deciding frame. For me though, Day is still failing to kick on and get that big victory that will get him back where his talent suggests that he belongs, and that is in the top 16. In fact, Wenbo's run to the UK final which earned him his top 16 and Masters spot almost feels like he has overtaken Ryan Day in a sense that they were two very similar players in the way that their respective careers had panned out to that point. Liang now has the belief that he can play well on the big stage and he could soon overtake Ding Junhui as China's Number 1 snooker star. If he can get past a tough first round opponent in Day on Thursday then he has every chance of being in the latter stages of this event with the way he has been playing recently.
Finally, World champion Stuart Bingham will be hoping to make it third time lucky against Fergal O'Brien this season, having lost to Fergal from two up with three to play on two occasions already in the 2015/2016 campaign. The recent signs have been good for Bingham as he ended 2015 with a semi-final on the European Tour and two good wins to qualify for the Tempodrome. Then 2016 has begun with two nice wins at the Masters before losing to eventual winner O'Sullivan in the semi's. He has obviously struggled as a first time winner of the World Championships, to carry that tag around without feeling the pressure, but as I suggested in my Masters preview the Christmas break may have helped him to come to terms with his achievements and move on. It wasn't until the German Masters a year ago that Mark Selby began to show any form as world champion, so that may give Stuart a little bit more confidence this week, and make him a genuine threat for the title.
Quarter Winner: Stuart Bingham
Tournament Runner-Up: Stuart Bingham
Tournament Winner: Mark Selby
The tournament will be covered in it's whole on Eurosport as usual and the format is best-of-9 frames matches up to the semi-finals which are best-of-11 before the final over best-of-17 frames. On Wednesday we have eight first round games from the top half of the draw, while the eight from the bottom half are played on Thursday morning and Thursday afternoon. Thursday evening sees the Last 16 matches from the top half of the draw, with the Last 16 matches from the bottom half being played on Friday afternoon before the quarter-finals on Friday evening. Both semi-finals are then on Saturday when we reach the one table set-up and of course the final is over two sessions on the Sunday.
I will be back for updates throughout the competition as I will preview the first half of the last 16 after the opening days play, and the second half of the last 16 after Thursdays play.
Thursday, 28 January 2016
Mark Williams wins Championship League Group 4
Mark Williams has booked his place in the Winners Group of the Championship League by securing victory in Group 4, whitewashing Mark Selby in the final.
Williams of course struggled to even get into group 4, finishing fifth in group 3 and just avoiding relegation by two frames of Joe Perry. Since then the Welshman has not looked back. On the opening day of the group he took four wins from his four matches played and that 100% record continued into the second day of the group after he came back from 2-0 down to beat Ricky Walden, after Walden missed a relatively easy red when in to win the match 3-0. The very final round robin match between Mark and Neil Robertson was a dead rubber, and despite leading 2-0, he went on to lose 3-2 to the Australian.
Elsewhere in the round robin stages Ben Woollaston was only able to win two frames in three matches on the second day of the group as he ended up finishing rock bottom and getting relegated, while Michael White will now rue the traffic that caused him to get docked the first two frames of his match on Wednesday evening against Ricky Walden. Walden went on to win the only frame actually contested, securing a vital 3-0 win. In the end Michael did managed two wins on the second day of the group, beating Woollaston 3-1 earlier in the day, but when Ricky Walden beat Ben by the same score, White's final match with Dott became irrelevant as he couldn't possibly match Walden's frames won total if he was able to join him on two points.
The fact that White won that match was of no consequence to Graeme Dott either, as his place in the semi-finals was already secured after a win against Mark Selby 3-2 earlier in the day, to go with the two wins he collected from his four matches on Wednesday. Selby's job was all but done after he beat Neil Robertson 3-1 earlier on, as his final match with Woollaston in which the Jester blitzed to a 3-0 win became a dead rubber. Robertson was still able to secure his semi-final qualification with a 3-1 win over Michael White in the middle of the day, but by only finishing third he was forced to play Mark Selby for the second time today when the knock-out phase came around.
Selby dominated the match and continued scoring well, and repeated the dose of their earlier match (which did feature 2 centuries for Mark) winning 3-1 to put himself in the final.
It wasn't such plain sailing for Mark Williams in the last 4 however. By topping the table in the round robin stages he played Graeme Dott and lost the opening two frames of the match. That was before a 129 helped him to winning the final three frames and the match, 3-2 to book his place in the final.
The intentions of the two time world champion were set out early on, starting with a 131 break to take the opening frame and Selby could put up little resistance to his opponents dominant play after that as Williams completed a 3-0 victory to join Ronnie O'Sullivan, Judd Trump and Stephen Maguire in qualifying for the winners group with three groups still remaining.
Williams of course struggled to even get into group 4, finishing fifth in group 3 and just avoiding relegation by two frames of Joe Perry. Since then the Welshman has not looked back. On the opening day of the group he took four wins from his four matches played and that 100% record continued into the second day of the group after he came back from 2-0 down to beat Ricky Walden, after Walden missed a relatively easy red when in to win the match 3-0. The very final round robin match between Mark and Neil Robertson was a dead rubber, and despite leading 2-0, he went on to lose 3-2 to the Australian.
Elsewhere in the round robin stages Ben Woollaston was only able to win two frames in three matches on the second day of the group as he ended up finishing rock bottom and getting relegated, while Michael White will now rue the traffic that caused him to get docked the first two frames of his match on Wednesday evening against Ricky Walden. Walden went on to win the only frame actually contested, securing a vital 3-0 win. In the end Michael did managed two wins on the second day of the group, beating Woollaston 3-1 earlier in the day, but when Ricky Walden beat Ben by the same score, White's final match with Dott became irrelevant as he couldn't possibly match Walden's frames won total if he was able to join him on two points.
The fact that White won that match was of no consequence to Graeme Dott either, as his place in the semi-finals was already secured after a win against Mark Selby 3-2 earlier in the day, to go with the two wins he collected from his four matches on Wednesday. Selby's job was all but done after he beat Neil Robertson 3-1 earlier on, as his final match with Woollaston in which the Jester blitzed to a 3-0 win became a dead rubber. Robertson was still able to secure his semi-final qualification with a 3-1 win over Michael White in the middle of the day, but by only finishing third he was forced to play Mark Selby for the second time today when the knock-out phase came around.
Selby dominated the match and continued scoring well, and repeated the dose of their earlier match (which did feature 2 centuries for Mark) winning 3-1 to put himself in the final.
It wasn't such plain sailing for Mark Williams in the last 4 however. By topping the table in the round robin stages he played Graeme Dott and lost the opening two frames of the match. That was before a 129 helped him to winning the final three frames and the match, 3-2 to book his place in the final.
The intentions of the two time world champion were set out early on, starting with a 131 break to take the opening frame and Selby could put up little resistance to his opponents dominant play after that as Williams completed a 3-0 victory to join Ronnie O'Sullivan, Judd Trump and Stephen Maguire in qualifying for the winners group with three groups still remaining.
Overall, it was an unlucky week for Selby as he was narrowly defeated in the Group 3 final before losing out to Williams in the final of Group 4 and he will now have to come back and do it all again when the Championship League returns for Group 5. Graeme Dott, Neil Robertson and Ricky Walden will also move along to group 5 and Williams win in the group 4 final means that Ricky Walden will be the only person in group 5 to have played in every single group so far.
The other three players scheduled to join the competition at this stage are David Gilbert, Mark Davis and Kyren Wilson and this will take place over the course of Monday February 22nd and Tuesday February 23rd after the Welsh Open.
Next up on the calendar is the World Seniors Championship on Saturday and Sunday at the Preston Guildhall, with the defending champion of course being... Mark Williams. Then there are another couple of days off before the German Masters begins in Berlin on Wednesday and my preview of all of this will be up on the blog on Friday.
Fantasy Snooker: Points Update and German Masters
It's been some time now since the Masters, and with the German Masters starting next Wednesday in Berlin it is time for an update on the Fantasy Snooker table and to set out the prices for the 32 players to choose from for next weeks event.
Here's how everything looks now after Ronnie's triumph in London:
Starting to look a little like a two horse race at the top of the table but there's still time for the rest of the contenders to get back into it with lots of events coming thick and fast from here. These are the guys you have to choose from this week:
Mark Selby – 6 million
Otherwise all that's left to say is good luck and happy tipping!!!
Here's how everything looks now after Ronnie's triumph in London:
1st: Igor: 582 +0.5 million O’Sullivan (86) and
Robertson (26)
2nd: Gorkem Kurt: 561 +2.3 million O’Sullivan (86)
3rd: SnookerFollower: 501 +0.5 million O’Sullivan
(86) and Maguire (0)
4th: Gary: 494 +0.4 million O’Sullivan (86) and
Trump (44)
5th: Michael Coudray: 441 +2 million Selby (18)
and Robertson (26)
6th: Chris Watts: 438 +1.9 million Selby (18)
7th: TungstenDarts: 432 +7.2 million Robertson
(26) and O’Sullivan (86)
8th: Kjetil: 388 +2.5 million Fu (0) and Higgins
(26)
9th: Josh Cooper: 365 +0.7 million Murphy (4) and
O’Sullivan (86)
10th: Anthony Ward: 353 +3.1 million Robertson
(26)
11th: Guillermo:
Trump (44) and Selby (18) 350 -4 million
12th: LTD: 317 +0.5 million Perry (0) and
Robertson (26)
13th: Spanish Snooker Blog: 304 +1 million Selby
(18) and Robertson (26)
14th: Ezgi Ulutas: 299 +4.4 million O’Sullivan
(86)
15th: Phil Mudd: 273 +2.3 million Murphy (4)
16th: John McBride: 272 +15.3 million Robertson
(26)
17th: Andrew Brooker:
271 +15.8 million Selby (18) and Robertson (26)
18th: Kai: 258 +5.1 million Murphy (4)
19th: Kellie Barker: 223 +-0 million Allen
(22) and Maguire (0) Starting to look a little like a two horse race at the top of the table but there's still time for the rest of the contenders to get back into it with lots of events coming thick and fast from here. These are the guys you have to choose from this week:
Mark Selby – 6 million
Stuart Bingham – 5.8 million
Shaun Murphy – 5.6 million
Judd Trump – 5.5 million
Barry Hawkins – 5.4 million
Mark Allen – 5.3 million
Mark Williams – 5.2 million
Marco Fu – 5 million
Liang Wenbo – 4.9 million
Stephen Maguire – 4.8 million
Ryan Day – 4.6 million
Martin Gould – 4.5 million
Kyren Wilson – 4.3 million
Graeme Dott – 4.2 million
Alan McManus – 4.1 million
Michael Holt – 4 million
Ali Carter - 3.5 million
Ben Woollaston - 3.5 million
Fergal O'Brien - 3.5 million
Luca Brecel - 3.5 million
Mark King - 3.5 million
Mark Joyce - 3 million
Kurt Maflin - 3 million
Ken Doherty - 3 million
Rory McLeod - 2.5 million
Tian Pengfei - 2.5 million
Stuart Carrington - 2.5 million
Ian Burns - 2 million
Zhang Anda - 2 million
Steven Hallworth - 1 million
Alfie Burden - 1 million
Zhao Xintong - 1 million
Those are the players then, as usual it's up to two picks from the 8 million given, plus any extra money you may have next to your name in the table. Meanwhile, if you are in minus figures for leftover money then you need to start thinking about when you are going to cut back on a pick or two to maximise the money you have for the finale at the World Championships.
Wednesday, 27 January 2016
Mark Williams dominant on first day of Group 4
Mark Williams was the dominant force on day one of the fourth Championship League group, winning all four of his games on the day. Williams of course only just scraped into this group, finishing fifth in group 5 after Joe Perry lost his final group game 3-0 on Tuesday. Wednesday was a much changed day for the Welshman as he started off with a 3-1 victory against one of the groups newbies Graeme Dott, before thrashing Michael White 3-0 in his second match. A double header followed in the evening session as Williams overcame another new face Ben Woollaston, and then beat Mark Selby 3-2 to end the day.
That defeat denied Selby a perfect day, winning his earlier two games 3-2 against Michael White and 3-0 over Ricky Walden, while Neil Robertson has also won two of his opening three games. Three centuries on the day helped the Australian to a whitewash over Woollaston and a 3-1 win over Ricky Walden before then losing out narrowly to Graeme Dott.
Dott started the day poorly with a 3-1 loss to Williams and a 3-0 defeat against Woollaston (Ben's only win on the day), but the win against Neil helped his fortunes before he played Ricky Walden in the evening session. Graeme could easily have won 3-0 but found himself 2-1 adrift after Walden stole the second and third frames. Dott managed to force a decider and had a big lead again before Ricky's chance came. Eventually he ran out of position on the pink and had to pot it with no way of obtaining black ball position, 7 ahead with 7 remaining. A long battle ended when Dott doubled the black to force a re-spotted black and after winning the toss and making Ricky play the opening shot, Dott doubled the black again to win the match 3-2, a double whammy for Walden.
That wasn't even the strangest thing that happened to Ricky today after his only win on the day came against winless Michael White. White got stuck in traffic after driving back to his hotel between matches and was docked two frames for being 20 minutes late. When he got there he couldn't pot a ball and Walden did the rest to seal the easiest 3-0 win he'll have for a long time.
Thursday's remaining Round Robin matches:
Neil Robertson Vs Mark Selby
Ben Woollaston Vs Michael White
Graeme Dott Vs Mark Selby
Mark Williams Vs Ricky Walden
Neil Robertson Vs Michael White
Ben Woollaston Vs Ricky Walden
Graeme Dott Vs Michael White
Ben Woollaston Vs Mark Selby
Neil Robertson Vs Mark Williams
Tomorrow's play begins with a key match between Neil Robertson and Mark Selby. With both on 2 points from 3 games, the winner of the match will almost be certain of their semi-final place, while the loser could still be sent into trouble.
Ben Woollaston and Michael White face off in a key match on the other table with both desperate for victories to avoid relegation, as they currently occupy 6th and 7th positions in the group.
Mark Selby then faces back to back matches when he takes on Graeme Dott, who could still use one win from his final two games, and if Selby loses to Neil Robertson he'll be in the exact same situation.
Mark Williams has already qualified for the knock-out stages and still faces a match with Ricky Walden, who certainly needs to step up a gear if he is to continue his participation in the Championship League 2016. Williams later match with Neil Robertson could well be a dead rubber if the Australian can beat either of Mark Selby or Michael White, who will certainly need to take a win from that game.
White's final game is against Graeme Dott, a match that could well be a relegation play-off depending on how earlier results go, while Ben Woollaston still faces another make or break match himself against Ricky Walden, before then playing fellow Leicester man Mark Selby in their final group games.
All in all, Williams is safe as far as knock-out phase participation is concerned but the way the fixtures line-up for day two of this fourth group, corresponding to the way the table currently sits it is anyone's guess as to who will finish where of the remaining spots, though a lot will become clearer after Robertson's match with Selby first up tomorrow and after the opening games of the three W's, Walden, White and Woollaston.
I'll be back on Friday with a round-up of the events on the final day of Group 4, before moving on to look ahead to the German Masters which starts just less than a week from now over in Berlin.
That defeat denied Selby a perfect day, winning his earlier two games 3-2 against Michael White and 3-0 over Ricky Walden, while Neil Robertson has also won two of his opening three games. Three centuries on the day helped the Australian to a whitewash over Woollaston and a 3-1 win over Ricky Walden before then losing out narrowly to Graeme Dott.
Dott started the day poorly with a 3-1 loss to Williams and a 3-0 defeat against Woollaston (Ben's only win on the day), but the win against Neil helped his fortunes before he played Ricky Walden in the evening session. Graeme could easily have won 3-0 but found himself 2-1 adrift after Walden stole the second and third frames. Dott managed to force a decider and had a big lead again before Ricky's chance came. Eventually he ran out of position on the pink and had to pot it with no way of obtaining black ball position, 7 ahead with 7 remaining. A long battle ended when Dott doubled the black to force a re-spotted black and after winning the toss and making Ricky play the opening shot, Dott doubled the black again to win the match 3-2, a double whammy for Walden.
That wasn't even the strangest thing that happened to Ricky today after his only win on the day came against winless Michael White. White got stuck in traffic after driving back to his hotel between matches and was docked two frames for being 20 minutes late. When he got there he couldn't pot a ball and Walden did the rest to seal the easiest 3-0 win he'll have for a long time.
Thursday's remaining Round Robin matches:
Neil Robertson Vs Mark Selby
Ben Woollaston Vs Michael White
Graeme Dott Vs Mark Selby
Mark Williams Vs Ricky Walden
Neil Robertson Vs Michael White
Ben Woollaston Vs Ricky Walden
Graeme Dott Vs Michael White
Ben Woollaston Vs Mark Selby
Neil Robertson Vs Mark Williams
Tomorrow's play begins with a key match between Neil Robertson and Mark Selby. With both on 2 points from 3 games, the winner of the match will almost be certain of their semi-final place, while the loser could still be sent into trouble.
Ben Woollaston and Michael White face off in a key match on the other table with both desperate for victories to avoid relegation, as they currently occupy 6th and 7th positions in the group.
Mark Selby then faces back to back matches when he takes on Graeme Dott, who could still use one win from his final two games, and if Selby loses to Neil Robertson he'll be in the exact same situation.
Mark Williams has already qualified for the knock-out stages and still faces a match with Ricky Walden, who certainly needs to step up a gear if he is to continue his participation in the Championship League 2016. Williams later match with Neil Robertson could well be a dead rubber if the Australian can beat either of Mark Selby or Michael White, who will certainly need to take a win from that game.
White's final game is against Graeme Dott, a match that could well be a relegation play-off depending on how earlier results go, while Ben Woollaston still faces another make or break match himself against Ricky Walden, before then playing fellow Leicester man Mark Selby in their final group games.
All in all, Williams is safe as far as knock-out phase participation is concerned but the way the fixtures line-up for day two of this fourth group, corresponding to the way the table currently sits it is anyone's guess as to who will finish where of the remaining spots, though a lot will become clearer after Robertson's match with Selby first up tomorrow and after the opening games of the three W's, Walden, White and Woollaston.
I'll be back on Friday with a round-up of the events on the final day of Group 4, before moving on to look ahead to the German Masters which starts just less than a week from now over in Berlin.
Tuesday, 26 January 2016
Stephen Maguire wins Championship League Group 3
Stephen Maguire has joined Judd Trump and Ronnie O'Sullivan as the third of seven players to enter the Championship League winners group after winning group 3, beating Mark Selby in the final 3-2.
Stephen came into day 2 of the group leading the way with three wins from three. His only loss in the group came in his first match of the day against Mark Williams who made a superb 137 break in the decider to see him off there. Otherwise he had a narrow 3-2 victory against Joe Perry which included a 112 break in the opening frame from Stephen, as he missed the last red on a maximum 147 attempt. The group was closed out with a 3-1 win against Ricky Walden which saw Maguire finish top and Walden in fourth so the pair met again in the semi-finals just an hour afterwards.
Elsewhere on the second day of the round robin stages, Joe Perry was handed a 3-0 win against Marco Fu without potting a single ball after Fu arrived late to Crondon Park for the match. Further losses for Fu later in the day against Mark Selby and Mark Williams saw the Hong Kong player finish bottom of the group. Perry also failed to win another match on the day, missing his chance in the decider with Maguire and then coming straight back out to a 3-0 whitewash loss against Michael White. This saw Perry finish in sixth place and eliminated alongside Fu, as Mark Williams escaped after his two wins on the day an extra two frames won across six matches proving the difference.
Mark Selby and Michael White both completed victories in their final two matches on day two in order to qualify for the semi-finals in second and third position in the table, meaning they were to play each other in the knock-out round.
Selby came from behind to win the opening frame of that match and didn't look back from there, as he wrapped up a 3-0 win inside of 40 minutes to book his place in the group three final.
Maguire meanwhile was equally as ruthless with yet another century on the way to a 3-0 win against Ricky Walden in the other semi, just an hour and a half after making two centuries against Ricky in the round robin stages.
In the final, Mark Selby started off with a century break to lead 1-0 but lost the next the next two to fall behind before forcing the deciding frame. Stephen needed a couple of chances in the decider but he didn't give Selby a chance to win the match, as the Scot sealed the group victory.
Tomorrow of course we are straight back into things for group 4 of the league. Mark Williams, Michael White, Ricky Walden and Mark Selby are the four men that continue from the third group and they are joined by reigning UK champion Neil Robertson, 2006 World champion Graeme Dott and Ben Woollaston who has moved into to replace Stuart Bingham who was due to start in this group but has now been moved to start later on in the seventh group.
It will be interesting to see how Graeme and Ben go as they play their first competitive snooker of 2016, and both are qualified for next weeks German Masters so this will be a good warm up for them.
I think the major threats for the actual group win are going to be Neil Robertson, a danger for any tournament he enters, and Mark Selby who has lost in the knock out rounds of groups 2 and 3 to the group winner and he is playing very well without having a win to show for it.
Relegation wise Dott and Woollaston are not quite at the same level as some of the others in this group so they may struggle, but Ricky Walden struggled despite making it into fourth place and Mark Williams was lacklustre at times and incredibly fortunate to pull it out of the fire and finish fifth in group 3. Who knows how he'll play over the next two days.
Michael White could be an underdog for the group win after winning four of his six matches in the round robin stage of group three, the only two losses he suffered coming against Ricky Walden after Walden made to centuries and the other was from 2-0 up against eventual group winner Maguire.
If I had to pick one name again for the group win I would stick with Mark Selby.
Come back at the same time tomorrow to see how Mark and the other six players are faring at the halfway stage of Group 4.
Stephen came into day 2 of the group leading the way with three wins from three. His only loss in the group came in his first match of the day against Mark Williams who made a superb 137 break in the decider to see him off there. Otherwise he had a narrow 3-2 victory against Joe Perry which included a 112 break in the opening frame from Stephen, as he missed the last red on a maximum 147 attempt. The group was closed out with a 3-1 win against Ricky Walden which saw Maguire finish top and Walden in fourth so the pair met again in the semi-finals just an hour afterwards.
Elsewhere on the second day of the round robin stages, Joe Perry was handed a 3-0 win against Marco Fu without potting a single ball after Fu arrived late to Crondon Park for the match. Further losses for Fu later in the day against Mark Selby and Mark Williams saw the Hong Kong player finish bottom of the group. Perry also failed to win another match on the day, missing his chance in the decider with Maguire and then coming straight back out to a 3-0 whitewash loss against Michael White. This saw Perry finish in sixth place and eliminated alongside Fu, as Mark Williams escaped after his two wins on the day an extra two frames won across six matches proving the difference.
Mark Selby and Michael White both completed victories in their final two matches on day two in order to qualify for the semi-finals in second and third position in the table, meaning they were to play each other in the knock-out round.
Selby came from behind to win the opening frame of that match and didn't look back from there, as he wrapped up a 3-0 win inside of 40 minutes to book his place in the group three final.
Maguire meanwhile was equally as ruthless with yet another century on the way to a 3-0 win against Ricky Walden in the other semi, just an hour and a half after making two centuries against Ricky in the round robin stages.
In the final, Mark Selby started off with a century break to lead 1-0 but lost the next the next two to fall behind before forcing the deciding frame. Stephen needed a couple of chances in the decider but he didn't give Selby a chance to win the match, as the Scot sealed the group victory.
Tomorrow of course we are straight back into things for group 4 of the league. Mark Williams, Michael White, Ricky Walden and Mark Selby are the four men that continue from the third group and they are joined by reigning UK champion Neil Robertson, 2006 World champion Graeme Dott and Ben Woollaston who has moved into to replace Stuart Bingham who was due to start in this group but has now been moved to start later on in the seventh group.
It will be interesting to see how Graeme and Ben go as they play their first competitive snooker of 2016, and both are qualified for next weeks German Masters so this will be a good warm up for them.
I think the major threats for the actual group win are going to be Neil Robertson, a danger for any tournament he enters, and Mark Selby who has lost in the knock out rounds of groups 2 and 3 to the group winner and he is playing very well without having a win to show for it.
Relegation wise Dott and Woollaston are not quite at the same level as some of the others in this group so they may struggle, but Ricky Walden struggled despite making it into fourth place and Mark Williams was lacklustre at times and incredibly fortunate to pull it out of the fire and finish fifth in group 3. Who knows how he'll play over the next two days.
Michael White could be an underdog for the group win after winning four of his six matches in the round robin stage of group three, the only two losses he suffered coming against Ricky Walden after Walden made to centuries and the other was from 2-0 up against eventual group winner Maguire.
If I had to pick one name again for the group win I would stick with Mark Selby.
Come back at the same time tomorrow to see how Mark and the other six players are faring at the halfway stage of Group 4.
Monday, 25 January 2016
Maguire and Walden dominate day one of group three
Stephen Maguire and Ricky Walden lead the way after the opening day of the third group in this years Championship League. Maguire was able to win his first three matches in the afternoon, dropping four frames on the way to wins against Marco Fu, Mark Selby and Michael White (from 2-0 behind and after his opponent made a break of 63 in the decider) and then enjoying the evening's session off. Ricky Walden has also won three games, the difference for him being that he has also lost one against Marco Fu. His wins came against Michael White (featuring two centuries) and then scrappy deciding frame victories against Joe Perry and Mark Williams, the latter of which saw Williams miss a red that would have left Walden requiring snookers to avoid a 3-1 loss.
Mark Selby and Michael White both managed two victories from their four games on day one. Selby's two victories were 3-0 wins against Mark Williams and Joe Perry, two centuries coming in the win against the Gentleman, while he also made centuries in his losses to Stephen Maguire and Michael White. White had four breaks of 50+ in that win with Selby, with his other win on the day coming against Marco Fu in a whitewash. His two losses on the day were to Walden in his opening match, and then against Maguire in a match he could easily have won also, and one that may come back to haunt him.
Joe Perry and Marco Fu are on just a singular point from their opening three games. Fu making a century in the only frame he lost over the course of his two defeats, while Perry was a deciding frame loser to Walden and managed his singular victory in another deciding frame against Mark Williams, who is stranded at the bottom with three losses from his three games.
Tuesday's Remaining Group Games:
Stephen Maguire Vs Mark Williams
Marco Fu Vs Joe Perry
Michael White Vs Mark Williams
Ricky Walden Vs Mark Selby
Stephen Maguire Vs Joe Perry
Marco Fu Vs Mark Selby
Michael White Vs Joe Perry
Marco Fu Vs Mark Williams
Stephen Maguire Vs Ricky Walden
As you can see there, Maguire has three matches from which you would expect him to win at least one which would nail on his qualification for the evening's semi-finals, but after that it is anyone's. Ricky Walden's position obviously looks favourable but playing against two guys in Selby and Maguire who appear to be playing well while Ricky still looks very hit and miss, his work is certainly not done yet.
Mark Selby is going to win at least one of his final two games against Walden or Fu and the way he has played on day one with four centuries and two 3-0 victories you would be surprised not to see him win at least one more match and put himself firmly in the driving spot for the top four.
Michael White faces tricky games with Joe Perry and Mark Williams who too will be desperate for wins so nothing is guaranteed there for the young Welshman.
Perry as I mention will be desperate for wins and being in the same position as Marco Fu, the first game on day two when those two play each other will be a key one to deciding which one has a chance of making a late push for the semi-finals and which will be fighting to stay in for Group 4 participation at the very least. Joe's other game besides the ones with Michael and Marco comes against group leader Stephen Maguire, while Fu's games besides the one with Perry are against Mark Selby and Mark Williams.
Mark Williams will need at least two wins to avoid relegation and with games against Marco Fu and Michael White he has half a chance, because beating them both would in turn drag them into danger. His first game on the day is against group leader Stephen Maguire, and you feel he will need to lay out his intentions there to avoid going four losses from four, making the last two matches do or die, and putting himself in a confidence damaging situation.
Overall, it really is still anyone's group coming into day two and will all be very exciting to see how it unfolds. I will have a full round-up of the play as the group three winner is decided, as well as a look ahead to Group 4 starting on Wednesday at the same time tomorrow.
Mark Selby and Michael White both managed two victories from their four games on day one. Selby's two victories were 3-0 wins against Mark Williams and Joe Perry, two centuries coming in the win against the Gentleman, while he also made centuries in his losses to Stephen Maguire and Michael White. White had four breaks of 50+ in that win with Selby, with his other win on the day coming against Marco Fu in a whitewash. His two losses on the day were to Walden in his opening match, and then against Maguire in a match he could easily have won also, and one that may come back to haunt him.
Joe Perry and Marco Fu are on just a singular point from their opening three games. Fu making a century in the only frame he lost over the course of his two defeats, while Perry was a deciding frame loser to Walden and managed his singular victory in another deciding frame against Mark Williams, who is stranded at the bottom with three losses from his three games.
Tuesday's Remaining Group Games:
Stephen Maguire Vs Mark Williams
Marco Fu Vs Joe Perry
Michael White Vs Mark Williams
Ricky Walden Vs Mark Selby
Stephen Maguire Vs Joe Perry
Marco Fu Vs Mark Selby
Michael White Vs Joe Perry
Marco Fu Vs Mark Williams
Stephen Maguire Vs Ricky Walden
As you can see there, Maguire has three matches from which you would expect him to win at least one which would nail on his qualification for the evening's semi-finals, but after that it is anyone's. Ricky Walden's position obviously looks favourable but playing against two guys in Selby and Maguire who appear to be playing well while Ricky still looks very hit and miss, his work is certainly not done yet.
Mark Selby is going to win at least one of his final two games against Walden or Fu and the way he has played on day one with four centuries and two 3-0 victories you would be surprised not to see him win at least one more match and put himself firmly in the driving spot for the top four.
Michael White faces tricky games with Joe Perry and Mark Williams who too will be desperate for wins so nothing is guaranteed there for the young Welshman.
Perry as I mention will be desperate for wins and being in the same position as Marco Fu, the first game on day two when those two play each other will be a key one to deciding which one has a chance of making a late push for the semi-finals and which will be fighting to stay in for Group 4 participation at the very least. Joe's other game besides the ones with Michael and Marco comes against group leader Stephen Maguire, while Fu's games besides the one with Perry are against Mark Selby and Mark Williams.
Mark Williams will need at least two wins to avoid relegation and with games against Marco Fu and Michael White he has half a chance, because beating them both would in turn drag them into danger. His first game on the day is against group leader Stephen Maguire, and you feel he will need to lay out his intentions there to avoid going four losses from four, making the last two matches do or die, and putting himself in a confidence damaging situation.
Overall, it really is still anyone's group coming into day two and will all be very exciting to see how it unfolds. I will have a full round-up of the play as the group three winner is decided, as well as a look ahead to Group 4 starting on Wednesday at the same time tomorrow.
Friday, 22 January 2016
Championship League: Group 3 Preview
After a week off since the Masters (which I have mostly spent watching some brilliant movies) it's time to get back into the snooker swing of things with the third group of the Championship League on Monday and Tuesday which if followed on Wednesday and Thursday with Group 4.
So far we've seen newly crowned Masters champion Ronnie O'Sullivan get into the Championship League winners group after winning group 1 prior to the Masters, and then Judd Trump booked his place in the final group by taking group 2 glory.
In Group 3 we have Mark Selby, Joe Perry, Mark Williams and Ricky Walden continuing from group 2, with the three new players of Michael White, Stephen Maguire and Marco Fu coming in.
Mark Selby was a quarter-finalist at the Masters before running into a rampant Ronnie, and you get the feeling that he isn't too far away from victory as his game has been there or thereabouts all season. So far Mark has only played in group 2, where he topped the group in the round robin stages with six wins from six before losing out in the semi-finals to eventual group winner Judd Trump.
Joe Perry has also only featured in group two so far where he finished up in third place in the group with three wins, and then losing out in the semi-finals to Mark Williams. Joe lost out in the first round of the Masters to eventual finalist Barry Hawkins who was striking it brilliantly at the Palace, so Joe had another unlucky draw there as seems to have happened a lot in the big events this season.
Mark Williams seems to be finding his form now after playing in the first two groups of the Championship League. He finished second in the round robin stages of both, losing out in the semi-finals of group one to Robert Milkins, before then losing in the group two final to Judd Trump. He wasn't far away at the Masters either losing 6-5 to Ronnie O'Sullivan.
Ricky Walden is struggling badly and has just been hanging on in the Championship League. In group one he just managed a fourth place round robin finish and lost to Ronnie O'Sullivan in the semi-final, before heading into group two where he only finished in fifth place and comes into group three as the 'lucky loser' so to speak. At the Masters he didn't have a great deal of fun losing 6-0 in round one to Mark Selby which must sit as a distinct low point for Walden in a season where there hasn't been many high's so far. He's probably one man who is a relegation candidate in group 3.
Michael White turns up to the Championship League for his first snooker of 2016 after narrowly missing out on a place in the Masters. Having also failed to qualify for the German Masters this is the only snooker White could look forward to before the China Open qualifier, followed quickly by his Shoot-Out defence and home tournament at the Welsh Open. He may start off slow but I actually expect him to go fairly well in this group and is certainly a contender to win it.
Stephen Maguire is another of the new introductions in group 3 and I think he will go well too. He was unlucky against Judd Trump in the Masters last week and has qualified for the German Masters in a week or so, so will be looking for a good warm up here and usually plays the Championship League well to get as much match practice out of it as he can.
Last but not least there is Marco Fu who suffered a first round whitewash in the Masters against Neil Robertson after coming down with a virus right before the event. It will be interesting to see how he is feeling and whether he has fully gotten over the virus yet, which he should've done but you never know.
If I had to pick out one guy to win Group 3 of the Championship League though I would go for Mark Selby just because I think he's playing well at the moment but not getting a lot for it, and will be looking to kick on ahead of his German Masters defence.
I will of course be back with updates throughout groups 3 and 4, and I may even write a little piece ahead of the World Seniors Championship that follows on the Saturday and Sunday between the Championship League and German Masters, so keep an eye out for all of that.
So far we've seen newly crowned Masters champion Ronnie O'Sullivan get into the Championship League winners group after winning group 1 prior to the Masters, and then Judd Trump booked his place in the final group by taking group 2 glory.
In Group 3 we have Mark Selby, Joe Perry, Mark Williams and Ricky Walden continuing from group 2, with the three new players of Michael White, Stephen Maguire and Marco Fu coming in.
Mark Selby was a quarter-finalist at the Masters before running into a rampant Ronnie, and you get the feeling that he isn't too far away from victory as his game has been there or thereabouts all season. So far Mark has only played in group 2, where he topped the group in the round robin stages with six wins from six before losing out in the semi-finals to eventual group winner Judd Trump.
Joe Perry has also only featured in group two so far where he finished up in third place in the group with three wins, and then losing out in the semi-finals to Mark Williams. Joe lost out in the first round of the Masters to eventual finalist Barry Hawkins who was striking it brilliantly at the Palace, so Joe had another unlucky draw there as seems to have happened a lot in the big events this season.
Mark Williams seems to be finding his form now after playing in the first two groups of the Championship League. He finished second in the round robin stages of both, losing out in the semi-finals of group one to Robert Milkins, before then losing in the group two final to Judd Trump. He wasn't far away at the Masters either losing 6-5 to Ronnie O'Sullivan.
Ricky Walden is struggling badly and has just been hanging on in the Championship League. In group one he just managed a fourth place round robin finish and lost to Ronnie O'Sullivan in the semi-final, before heading into group two where he only finished in fifth place and comes into group three as the 'lucky loser' so to speak. At the Masters he didn't have a great deal of fun losing 6-0 in round one to Mark Selby which must sit as a distinct low point for Walden in a season where there hasn't been many high's so far. He's probably one man who is a relegation candidate in group 3.
Michael White turns up to the Championship League for his first snooker of 2016 after narrowly missing out on a place in the Masters. Having also failed to qualify for the German Masters this is the only snooker White could look forward to before the China Open qualifier, followed quickly by his Shoot-Out defence and home tournament at the Welsh Open. He may start off slow but I actually expect him to go fairly well in this group and is certainly a contender to win it.
Stephen Maguire is another of the new introductions in group 3 and I think he will go well too. He was unlucky against Judd Trump in the Masters last week and has qualified for the German Masters in a week or so, so will be looking for a good warm up here and usually plays the Championship League well to get as much match practice out of it as he can.
Last but not least there is Marco Fu who suffered a first round whitewash in the Masters against Neil Robertson after coming down with a virus right before the event. It will be interesting to see how he is feeling and whether he has fully gotten over the virus yet, which he should've done but you never know.
If I had to pick out one guy to win Group 3 of the Championship League though I would go for Mark Selby just because I think he's playing well at the moment but not getting a lot for it, and will be looking to kick on ahead of his German Masters defence.
I will of course be back with updates throughout groups 3 and 4, and I may even write a little piece ahead of the World Seniors Championship that follows on the Saturday and Sunday between the Championship League and German Masters, so keep an eye out for all of that.
Saturday, 16 January 2016
Hawkins and Ronnie make up Masters final
Barry Hawkins and Ronnie O'Sullivan are into the Masters final after differing victories in their semi-final matches.
Hawkins made it into the his first Masters final with a superbly well deserved victory against Judd Trump. Hawkins started off in superb fashion with consecutive centuries to take an early 2-0 lead. After a missed pink in the third frame, he appeared to let Judd off the hook as a good break to win the third was followed up in the fourth to make it 2-2. Trump missed a sitter in frame five which let Hawkins in for a frame winning contribution. Despite that Judd got back into his groove to lead 4-3 and had a great chance at the start of the eighth before missing another simple enough red and a 78 from Barry made it 4-4. His third century of the match in the ninth put a frame away, before a scrappy tenth went down to the final red. Judd's poor safety shot left it on from range, but it wasn't straightforward from there as he still need a stunning pot on the blue with equally good positional play to leave the pink easy for a 6-4 victory.
Later on in the second semi-final Ronnie O'Sullivan overcame world champion Stuart Bingham 6-3, despite the chances that Bingham had. Stuart won the opening frame and could so easily have won both of the next two frames after that, so was pretty unlucky to find himself 3-1 down at the interval. It was soon 4-1 with a century from the Rocket, and in the next he potted some amazing balls to come back from a snooker needed and make it 5-1. Stuart started to score more heavily thereafter to put the next two frames on the board at 3-5 as O'Sullivan was visibly beginning to feel the pressure of making his 11th Masters final. Stuart had a good chance to make it 4-5 but missed a double on the final red to win the frame and a jaw-dropping long red opened up another brilliant clearance that saw him win the frame by a point, taking out a 6-3 victory that was certainly not that comfortable.
Semi-Final Results:
Barry Hawkins 6-4 Judd Trump
Ronnie O'Sullivan 6-3 Stuart Bingham
A word that is said a lot about Barry Hawkins is "solid". That is certainly true of Barry and his match player is exactly that, but in my view this week he has been much better than just solid. Barry has two problems and I think that the first certainly causes the second. He has admitted to struggling to get up for matches in smaller tournaments, especially after the 2013 World final as he struggles to replicate that feeling. That for me is why he can tend to lose matches from a long way ahead, by simply not being in the same frame of mind. In both his 2014 and 2015 runs to the world semi-finals he has threatened to do that, but he has shown a great deal of bottle to come through because big events like the World's and Masters mean something to him. Tomorrow playing Ronnie in another massive final will be perfect for him. Against Judd he was superb, starting with two centuries and not being concerned at finding himself 4-3 behind he made another on the way to three frames in a row to finish. It took a huge performance to win that game, and you can see a big difference in Hawkins now that he has gotten that first win at the Masters, in the first round against Joe Perry at the start of the week. Barry is striking the ball brilliantly and if he doesn't fear Ronnie he has every chance of getting the Triple Crown title he deserves.
The issue for Ronnie could be how he deals with these fragile areas of his game and these niggling areas of technique that are causing him such agitation over a two session match. If Hawkins gets off to a good start in the first session of eight frames and can take a 5-3 lead or at the very least be no worse than level at 4-4 then he will have Ronnie thinking. There's no doubt that Ronnie is still playing well, because his long potting is in tune, and he is making big clearances for fun. However, he is relying on these to get him out of trouble. No-one has come out as yet and played their very best against him but Hawkins has not been far away from his this week. If he takes advantage of the errors that Ronnie has made this week with positional play that have not been here before, and can put out of his mind that he is playing the best player to ever play the game then the chance is there.
Prediction: If Hawkins can stay with Ronnie in session one, the evening session will be a big test for the Rocket. Overall - Hawkins to win 10-8.
The standard in this years Masters has been superb from start to finish. There have been a few one sided games, but usually when one player has played well it has brought his opponent along for a close match with some real quality, which is what makes these guys the best players in the world.
There's actually quite a break after the final, with a week until the Championship League returns for groups 3 and 4, with the next big tournament play not coming until the beginning of February a the Tempodrome in Berlin for the German Masters.
Hawkins made it into the his first Masters final with a superbly well deserved victory against Judd Trump. Hawkins started off in superb fashion with consecutive centuries to take an early 2-0 lead. After a missed pink in the third frame, he appeared to let Judd off the hook as a good break to win the third was followed up in the fourth to make it 2-2. Trump missed a sitter in frame five which let Hawkins in for a frame winning contribution. Despite that Judd got back into his groove to lead 4-3 and had a great chance at the start of the eighth before missing another simple enough red and a 78 from Barry made it 4-4. His third century of the match in the ninth put a frame away, before a scrappy tenth went down to the final red. Judd's poor safety shot left it on from range, but it wasn't straightforward from there as he still need a stunning pot on the blue with equally good positional play to leave the pink easy for a 6-4 victory.
Later on in the second semi-final Ronnie O'Sullivan overcame world champion Stuart Bingham 6-3, despite the chances that Bingham had. Stuart won the opening frame and could so easily have won both of the next two frames after that, so was pretty unlucky to find himself 3-1 down at the interval. It was soon 4-1 with a century from the Rocket, and in the next he potted some amazing balls to come back from a snooker needed and make it 5-1. Stuart started to score more heavily thereafter to put the next two frames on the board at 3-5 as O'Sullivan was visibly beginning to feel the pressure of making his 11th Masters final. Stuart had a good chance to make it 4-5 but missed a double on the final red to win the frame and a jaw-dropping long red opened up another brilliant clearance that saw him win the frame by a point, taking out a 6-3 victory that was certainly not that comfortable.
Semi-Final Results:
Barry Hawkins 6-4 Judd Trump
Ronnie O'Sullivan 6-3 Stuart Bingham
Final Preview
Ronnie O'Sullivan Vs Barry Hawkins - Here we are then with a repeat of the 2013 World Championship final in this years Masters final. Ronnie has said that he had to play some of his best ever snooker to win that match, and that was due to the same solid play that Barry Hawkins has shown in this tournament. Starting though with Ronnie, your opinion on how he has played and how he feels this week depends on how much you look into his post-match interviews for the BBC. In them he has commented on with regularity "alignment issues" on the shot and general issues with technique caused by a back problem he had last year. Despite however well he has seemed to play, there are signs of what he has been talking about in each of his matches so far. Against Mark Williams he was very uncomfortable in the first six frames going 4-2 behind and not making a 50 break in that time. As he puts it "I've been struggling to even make a 20 break in practice". If you watch those six frames there is certainly a little bit of that in evidence. Up against Mark Selby he offered up a few chances early on when he was 50 odd points in front in those frames. His long potting though has been fantastic, and that coupled with some challenging clearances has been able to bail him out so far. The same was true against Stuart Bingham when he refers to how many shots he was over-hitting, and generally you could see how hard he was having to work to "stick in there" and "grind it out", his words not mine. At the table against Bingham he appeared as agitated as he was in any of his matches and joked afterwards that he doesn't know how he'll manage two sessions tomorrow.A word that is said a lot about Barry Hawkins is "solid". That is certainly true of Barry and his match player is exactly that, but in my view this week he has been much better than just solid. Barry has two problems and I think that the first certainly causes the second. He has admitted to struggling to get up for matches in smaller tournaments, especially after the 2013 World final as he struggles to replicate that feeling. That for me is why he can tend to lose matches from a long way ahead, by simply not being in the same frame of mind. In both his 2014 and 2015 runs to the world semi-finals he has threatened to do that, but he has shown a great deal of bottle to come through because big events like the World's and Masters mean something to him. Tomorrow playing Ronnie in another massive final will be perfect for him. Against Judd he was superb, starting with two centuries and not being concerned at finding himself 4-3 behind he made another on the way to three frames in a row to finish. It took a huge performance to win that game, and you can see a big difference in Hawkins now that he has gotten that first win at the Masters, in the first round against Joe Perry at the start of the week. Barry is striking the ball brilliantly and if he doesn't fear Ronnie he has every chance of getting the Triple Crown title he deserves.
The issue for Ronnie could be how he deals with these fragile areas of his game and these niggling areas of technique that are causing him such agitation over a two session match. If Hawkins gets off to a good start in the first session of eight frames and can take a 5-3 lead or at the very least be no worse than level at 4-4 then he will have Ronnie thinking. There's no doubt that Ronnie is still playing well, because his long potting is in tune, and he is making big clearances for fun. However, he is relying on these to get him out of trouble. No-one has come out as yet and played their very best against him but Hawkins has not been far away from his this week. If he takes advantage of the errors that Ronnie has made this week with positional play that have not been here before, and can put out of his mind that he is playing the best player to ever play the game then the chance is there.
Prediction: If Hawkins can stay with Ronnie in session one, the evening session will be a big test for the Rocket. Overall - Hawkins to win 10-8.
The standard in this years Masters has been superb from start to finish. There have been a few one sided games, but usually when one player has played well it has brought his opponent along for a close match with some real quality, which is what makes these guys the best players in the world.
There's actually quite a break after the final, with a week until the Championship League returns for groups 3 and 4, with the next big tournament play not coming until the beginning of February a the Tempodrome in Berlin for the German Masters.
Friday, 15 January 2016
Remarkable Judd amongst Masters semi-finalists
A sensational performance from Judd Trump saw him get into the Masters semi-finals for only the second time after a deciding frame victory over current UK and Champion of Champions Neil Robertson. The standard was simply insane throughout the match as neither player looked like missing when amongst the balls. Four centuries were recorded from Trump, while Robertson had two of his own and could have had a third in frame ten to force a decider. The total clearance that Judd made in the decider deserves to go down as one of the best ever made. The pot to get in, and several others that followed, including a blue that wobbled on a few occasions before dropping, were beyond belief.
Next for Judd is a match with another left-hander in Barry Hawkins. Hawkins had a much more simple evening against Mark Allen. Despite a century in frame one, Allen failed to catch fire thereafter and Hawkins wasn't put under much pressure with his mistakes not being punished. In the end Hawkins was easily over the line in only his first Masters quarter-final, a 6-2 winner.
Ronnie O'Sullivan is also into the Masters semi-finals, after getting one back in his classic rivalry with Mark Selby. Ronnie's long potting was as good as it has been in a long time, as Selby struggled to impose himself on the match early on, despite a fabulous clearance in the second frame. Selby found himself 5-2 down before he started really playing and having chances amongst the balls. In frame eight he made a fabulous break to pull a frame back, and he started off in frame nine with a run of 70. It wasn't enough as he lost position, but then Ronnie potted another superb long ball, clearing the pink in the process. The clearance from there was one of the best you'll see and he clinched the match 6-3.
World champion Stuart Bingham was the final man into the last four as he defeated John Higgins. Stuart still wasn't quite to the same standard that saw him win the World title last May, but there are certainly signs of progress in this match as he capitalised on the errors of Higgins. John was certainly nowhere near the standard he set against Liang Wenbo, and despite being 2-2 at the mid-session he lost all of the next three before making a century to stay in it. A wonderful trick shot gave Bingham the chance to make a contribution that gave him the driving seat in the ninth, before sealing a comfortable in that frame.
Quarter-Final Results:
Barry Hawkins 6-2 Mark Allen
Judd Trump 6-5 Neil Robertson
Ronnie O'Sullivan 6-3 Mark Selby
Stuart Bingham 6-3 John Higgins
Ronnie O'Sullivan Vs Stuart Bingham - Meanwhile, on Saturday evening we will have the continuation of a great head to head in recent years between Stuart Bingham and Ronnie O'Sullivan. Stuart of course overcame the Rocket in the quarter-finals of this years World Championship, after giving him a run for his money in the 2014 UK semi-finals, losing out in a decider, after beating him in the 2013 UK quarters. This is their first meeting at the Masters, and the first Masters in which Stuart has made it past the first round. As I mentioned earlier, this has not quite been the same Stuart Bingham that won the World Championships but the signs are there that his form is returning. I said whilst tipping him to win the bottom quarter in my tournament preview that the Christmas break may help Stuart to settle, reflect and move on now with the rest of the season. In the second half of the match with Higgins he took his chances well and wasn't far away from a maximum against Ding in round one, where Ding was probably grinding the world champion down as much as anything else. Ronnie O'Sullivan was in a similar situation in round one, finding himself 4-2 down and without a 50 break, before finding some impeccable scoring to claw out a 6-5 victory over Mark Williams. Against another Mark in the quarter-finals, his long potting was superb and at times there was little Selby could do to push the Rocket, although he did have chances. That will be the key in this match, if Bingham gets his chances he will have to put them away like he did against O'Sullivan in the World Championship. Getting his first Masters win and being the underdog really for the first time since the Crucible last May helped him in my opinion against Higgins to relax a little more, and there won't be many amongst the masses that will give him much chance Ronnie despite his clear credentials. If Bingham gets off to a good start and doesn't let Ronnie move away into the distance then he has a great chance.
That's what we have left now after some really magnificent quarter-final performances and it is a very tough call to pick an overall winner from here, even if there are only four guys left. Both semi-finals are still over the best-of-11 frames, with the afternoon match being Trump Vs Hawkins, while the legion of Ronnie O'Sullivan fans should tune it in the evening session at 7pm for his semi-final.
If the semi's get anywhere close to the quarters there will be a couple of cracking games and it will set up an even better final on Sunday. Of course I will be back to look over the results tomorrow and preview that final before they get going.
Next for Judd is a match with another left-hander in Barry Hawkins. Hawkins had a much more simple evening against Mark Allen. Despite a century in frame one, Allen failed to catch fire thereafter and Hawkins wasn't put under much pressure with his mistakes not being punished. In the end Hawkins was easily over the line in only his first Masters quarter-final, a 6-2 winner.
Ronnie O'Sullivan is also into the Masters semi-finals, after getting one back in his classic rivalry with Mark Selby. Ronnie's long potting was as good as it has been in a long time, as Selby struggled to impose himself on the match early on, despite a fabulous clearance in the second frame. Selby found himself 5-2 down before he started really playing and having chances amongst the balls. In frame eight he made a fabulous break to pull a frame back, and he started off in frame nine with a run of 70. It wasn't enough as he lost position, but then Ronnie potted another superb long ball, clearing the pink in the process. The clearance from there was one of the best you'll see and he clinched the match 6-3.
World champion Stuart Bingham was the final man into the last four as he defeated John Higgins. Stuart still wasn't quite to the same standard that saw him win the World title last May, but there are certainly signs of progress in this match as he capitalised on the errors of Higgins. John was certainly nowhere near the standard he set against Liang Wenbo, and despite being 2-2 at the mid-session he lost all of the next three before making a century to stay in it. A wonderful trick shot gave Bingham the chance to make a contribution that gave him the driving seat in the ninth, before sealing a comfortable in that frame.
Quarter-Final Results:
Barry Hawkins 6-2 Mark Allen
Judd Trump 6-5 Neil Robertson
Ronnie O'Sullivan 6-3 Mark Selby
Stuart Bingham 6-3 John Higgins
Semi-Finals Preview: (Picks in Bold)
Judd Trump Vs Barry Hawkins - The first semi-final sees a repeat of the first round from 2013 when Judd came from 5-3 down to beat Barry 6-5. This week Barry has played very well and has dropped the least frames out of the four semi-finalists, and of course this is the first time he has been past the first round. He has struck the ball nicely, though has been helped a little by his opponents, particularly in the quarters against Mark Allen. A lot is being made about how Judd Trump really needs to keep pushing on and winning these big titles now, and his performance against Neil Robertson I believe is a product of him working a lot harder over Christmas, which is another thing he is pointing to. It's almost as if he knows he is ready to kick now, having stopped partying as much (having been out partying once since his Birthday in August, as opposed to every other weekend that he admitted to in his post-match interview). He's working harder, and has looked a much better all-round player in the last year. The key to this match is going to be bottle under pressure. Hawkins has not been pressured yet in this event, while Trump has already come through two stern tests and with neither player having ever been to a Masters final there will certainly be some nerves flying around tomorrow afternoon.Ronnie O'Sullivan Vs Stuart Bingham - Meanwhile, on Saturday evening we will have the continuation of a great head to head in recent years between Stuart Bingham and Ronnie O'Sullivan. Stuart of course overcame the Rocket in the quarter-finals of this years World Championship, after giving him a run for his money in the 2014 UK semi-finals, losing out in a decider, after beating him in the 2013 UK quarters. This is their first meeting at the Masters, and the first Masters in which Stuart has made it past the first round. As I mentioned earlier, this has not quite been the same Stuart Bingham that won the World Championships but the signs are there that his form is returning. I said whilst tipping him to win the bottom quarter in my tournament preview that the Christmas break may help Stuart to settle, reflect and move on now with the rest of the season. In the second half of the match with Higgins he took his chances well and wasn't far away from a maximum against Ding in round one, where Ding was probably grinding the world champion down as much as anything else. Ronnie O'Sullivan was in a similar situation in round one, finding himself 4-2 down and without a 50 break, before finding some impeccable scoring to claw out a 6-5 victory over Mark Williams. Against another Mark in the quarter-finals, his long potting was superb and at times there was little Selby could do to push the Rocket, although he did have chances. That will be the key in this match, if Bingham gets his chances he will have to put them away like he did against O'Sullivan in the World Championship. Getting his first Masters win and being the underdog really for the first time since the Crucible last May helped him in my opinion against Higgins to relax a little more, and there won't be many amongst the masses that will give him much chance Ronnie despite his clear credentials. If Bingham gets off to a good start and doesn't let Ronnie move away into the distance then he has a great chance.
That's what we have left now after some really magnificent quarter-final performances and it is a very tough call to pick an overall winner from here, even if there are only four guys left. Both semi-finals are still over the best-of-11 frames, with the afternoon match being Trump Vs Hawkins, while the legion of Ronnie O'Sullivan fans should tune it in the evening session at 7pm for his semi-final.
If the semi's get anywhere close to the quarters there will be a couple of cracking games and it will set up an even better final on Sunday. Of course I will be back to look over the results tomorrow and preview that final before they get going.
Wednesday, 13 January 2016
Higgins sets down Masters marker
John Higgins laid down a marker in the first round of the Masters as he searches for his first Masters title for 10 years and his third in all. He won a classic contest with Chinese debutant Liang Wenbo who scored very well himself to stick with the Scot, but there was nothing he could do about John's three century breaks that could have been even greater in number in a 6-4 win.
The defending champion was sent packing way back on the opening afternoon in a dramatic match with Mark Allen. Shaun Murphy did well to level at 2-2 at the mid-session interval but after losing the fifth frame, he gave away the sixth on the "three miss rule" whereby after failing to hit a red that he could see all of on three occasions the frame was awarded to his opponent. Allen went 5-2 but Murphy had a century on the way back to 4-5 and had his chances to force a decider, but it was Mark who got over the line.
The big headline for many was Ronnie O'Sullivan's 6-5 win over Mark Williams. Ronnie of course was playing on television for the first time since April after missing the UK Championships and Champion of Champions where he was defending champion. He also lost four frames in the middle of this match with the Welshman after leading 2-0 early on in fortunate circumstances after a huge fluke in frame two. From 4-2 he actually went on to pull ahead at 5-4, and despite forcing a decider, a very risky plant didn't go Mark's way in the decider and Ronnie made him pay to win it.
World Champion Stuart Bingham kept up his good record against Ding Junhui on the way to his first Masters win in a scrappy 6-4 victory. The loss for Ding continues his run of woeful form and a run at the Masters that means he has lost in the first round on five consecutive occasions now since capturing the title in 2011.
Judd Trump was able to overturn a couple of demons in his 6-4 first round win against Stephen Maguire. Stephen was of course the man that beat Judd in the first round a year ago, while Judd was also able to send his demons from the UK packing in sorts. In the Last 32 there against Liang Wenbo he lost 6-4 from 4-1 ahead, and the signs were that it could happen again after Maguire levelled at 4-4 from 4-1 down. On this occasion Judd played two very good frames to finish off though at 6-4.
Barry Hawkins was able to recover from losing three frames on the spin to Joe Perry from 2-0 ahead by finishing with four in a row from 3-2 down to end up winning that match 6-3 on Monday evening.
The biggest win of the first round saw Ricky Walden suffer his second Masters whitewash in three years, losing 6-0 to Mark Selby. Mark took control after a sensational clearance to steal the opener was followed by breaks of 118, 66 and 81 to lead 4-0 at the interval and barely missing a ball at this stage. Despite a few misses in the fifth he still won it and the victory was completed with an 83 break in the sixth.
Neil Robertson was the final man through against what looked to be an unwell Marco who certainly wasn't at the races and also suffered a whitewash defeat.
First Round Results:
Mark Allen 6-4 Shaun Murphy
Barry Hawkins 6-3 Joe Perry
Judd Trump 6-4 Stephen Maguire
Neil Robertson 6-0 Marco Fu
Mark Selby 6-0 Ricky Walden
Ronnie O'Sullivan 6-5 Mark Williams
John Higgins 6-4 Liang Wenbo
Stuart Bingham 6-4 Ding Junhui
Neil Robertson Vs Judd Trump - I always relish these battles between the two best left-handers in the game and this one will be no different. Neil Robertson battered a Marco Fu who had come down with a virus and would have pulled out had it not been a major. Nothing was really learned about the Australian who did still miss a few and wasn't really challenged at all, but he was still in good touch. Judd on the other hand was seriously pushed by Stephen Maguire after watching his 4-1 lead disappear. I was impressed by how he stuck in and battled out the 6-4 victory this time though, and also to hear that he didn't have a day off from practice over Christmas in preparation for the Masters, and I expected him to have worked hard as this is one event where he has targeted a strong showing. There are not many men who can beat Neil Robertson when he is in good form but Judd is certainly one of those, and he has a strong record against Neil and has learned from the 2014 World Championship quarter-final exit against him. For these reasons, I am going to go for the slight underdog in Trump to win.
Mark Selby Vs Ronnie O'Sullivan - The rivalry continues. A lot is made of it anytime that Ronnie O'Sullivan plays Mark Selby, and at this present moment in time Selby is probably the player that the Rocket has the most respect for. Selby has beaten Ronnie O'Sullivan in a World Championship final, something no-one else has. In the first round Selby looked sharp and there was evidence that he had put plenty of work in over Christmas as he battered Ricky Walden. Ronnie O'Sullivan is not happy with his form, saying he is struggling to find his balance at the table after a back injury he suffered in November, and for the first half of the match he was really struggling against Mark Williams who could so easily have won. It feels a little like Williams missed the boat, something that Mark certainly will not do because O'Sullivan always brings out the best in him, as does the Masters as a whole. That could prove a very dangerous combination for Ronnie's army of supporters.
Stuart Bingham Vs John Higgins - If John Higgins plays anything like what he did in the opening round today against Liang Wenbo then he could give Stuart Bingham a little bit of a hiding to be honest. Stuart's match with Ding Junhui was by no means pretty with both players struggling, and even though he can take some confidence after getting over the line in the end, particularly with the pressures of being World Champion weighing heavily upon him. In fact, as the underdog in this match he may be able to relax and play in a similar fashion to John's round one performance. Three centuries was John's tally for the match with Wenbo and he was disappointed not to have eventually made more. He looks in a mood to do some damage in the draw this week, and as we saw in the UK Championships it will take something very special to stop him once again.
Four great matches coming our way in the quarter-finals then at the Alexandra Palace, plenty of pedigree left in the tournament and with the way the majority of the guys are playing there could be some real classics in store and plenty of tension. The next offering from me will be ahead of the semi-finals which come up on Saturday.
The defending champion was sent packing way back on the opening afternoon in a dramatic match with Mark Allen. Shaun Murphy did well to level at 2-2 at the mid-session interval but after losing the fifth frame, he gave away the sixth on the "three miss rule" whereby after failing to hit a red that he could see all of on three occasions the frame was awarded to his opponent. Allen went 5-2 but Murphy had a century on the way back to 4-5 and had his chances to force a decider, but it was Mark who got over the line.
The big headline for many was Ronnie O'Sullivan's 6-5 win over Mark Williams. Ronnie of course was playing on television for the first time since April after missing the UK Championships and Champion of Champions where he was defending champion. He also lost four frames in the middle of this match with the Welshman after leading 2-0 early on in fortunate circumstances after a huge fluke in frame two. From 4-2 he actually went on to pull ahead at 5-4, and despite forcing a decider, a very risky plant didn't go Mark's way in the decider and Ronnie made him pay to win it.
World Champion Stuart Bingham kept up his good record against Ding Junhui on the way to his first Masters win in a scrappy 6-4 victory. The loss for Ding continues his run of woeful form and a run at the Masters that means he has lost in the first round on five consecutive occasions now since capturing the title in 2011.
Judd Trump was able to overturn a couple of demons in his 6-4 first round win against Stephen Maguire. Stephen was of course the man that beat Judd in the first round a year ago, while Judd was also able to send his demons from the UK packing in sorts. In the Last 32 there against Liang Wenbo he lost 6-4 from 4-1 ahead, and the signs were that it could happen again after Maguire levelled at 4-4 from 4-1 down. On this occasion Judd played two very good frames to finish off though at 6-4.
Barry Hawkins was able to recover from losing three frames on the spin to Joe Perry from 2-0 ahead by finishing with four in a row from 3-2 down to end up winning that match 6-3 on Monday evening.
The biggest win of the first round saw Ricky Walden suffer his second Masters whitewash in three years, losing 6-0 to Mark Selby. Mark took control after a sensational clearance to steal the opener was followed by breaks of 118, 66 and 81 to lead 4-0 at the interval and barely missing a ball at this stage. Despite a few misses in the fifth he still won it and the victory was completed with an 83 break in the sixth.
Neil Robertson was the final man through against what looked to be an unwell Marco who certainly wasn't at the races and also suffered a whitewash defeat.
First Round Results:
Mark Allen 6-4 Shaun Murphy
Barry Hawkins 6-3 Joe Perry
Judd Trump 6-4 Stephen Maguire
Neil Robertson 6-0 Marco Fu
Mark Selby 6-0 Ricky Walden
Ronnie O'Sullivan 6-5 Mark Williams
John Higgins 6-4 Liang Wenbo
Stuart Bingham 6-4 Ding Junhui
Quarter-Final Preview: (Picks in Bold)
Mark Allen Vs Barry Hawkins - This is going to be a very tight match in my view and one I wouldn't be surprised to go to a deciding frame one bit. Mark Allen was particularly impressive against Shaun Murphy with his break building form, and looked to be showing the form again that got him to the Champion of Champions final. These two actually met in the first round of that event, with Allen winning 4-2, avenging three losses in a row he had suffered to Hawkins previously including his 13-11 World Championship exit last season. Barry Hawkins looked to be in decent touch too against Joe Perry, but of course his record at the Masters isn't great with that being his first ever win in round one. This could well be Allen's week to finally win his first major and I certainly don't think he is far away from making that a reality, which is why I would go for him to edge this one with Barry.Neil Robertson Vs Judd Trump - I always relish these battles between the two best left-handers in the game and this one will be no different. Neil Robertson battered a Marco Fu who had come down with a virus and would have pulled out had it not been a major. Nothing was really learned about the Australian who did still miss a few and wasn't really challenged at all, but he was still in good touch. Judd on the other hand was seriously pushed by Stephen Maguire after watching his 4-1 lead disappear. I was impressed by how he stuck in and battled out the 6-4 victory this time though, and also to hear that he didn't have a day off from practice over Christmas in preparation for the Masters, and I expected him to have worked hard as this is one event where he has targeted a strong showing. There are not many men who can beat Neil Robertson when he is in good form but Judd is certainly one of those, and he has a strong record against Neil and has learned from the 2014 World Championship quarter-final exit against him. For these reasons, I am going to go for the slight underdog in Trump to win.
Mark Selby Vs Ronnie O'Sullivan - The rivalry continues. A lot is made of it anytime that Ronnie O'Sullivan plays Mark Selby, and at this present moment in time Selby is probably the player that the Rocket has the most respect for. Selby has beaten Ronnie O'Sullivan in a World Championship final, something no-one else has. In the first round Selby looked sharp and there was evidence that he had put plenty of work in over Christmas as he battered Ricky Walden. Ronnie O'Sullivan is not happy with his form, saying he is struggling to find his balance at the table after a back injury he suffered in November, and for the first half of the match he was really struggling against Mark Williams who could so easily have won. It feels a little like Williams missed the boat, something that Mark certainly will not do because O'Sullivan always brings out the best in him, as does the Masters as a whole. That could prove a very dangerous combination for Ronnie's army of supporters.
Stuart Bingham Vs John Higgins - If John Higgins plays anything like what he did in the opening round today against Liang Wenbo then he could give Stuart Bingham a little bit of a hiding to be honest. Stuart's match with Ding Junhui was by no means pretty with both players struggling, and even though he can take some confidence after getting over the line in the end, particularly with the pressures of being World Champion weighing heavily upon him. In fact, as the underdog in this match he may be able to relax and play in a similar fashion to John's round one performance. Three centuries was John's tally for the match with Wenbo and he was disappointed not to have eventually made more. He looks in a mood to do some damage in the draw this week, and as we saw in the UK Championships it will take something very special to stop him once again.
Four great matches coming our way in the quarter-finals then at the Alexandra Palace, plenty of pedigree left in the tournament and with the way the majority of the guys are playing there could be some real classics in store and plenty of tension. The next offering from me will be ahead of the semi-finals which come up on Saturday.
Friday, 8 January 2016
Top Trump wins Group 2
Judd Trump won the second group of Championship League last night as he overcame Mark Williams 3-1 in the final. Judd only just managed to get into the semi-finals after winning two of his final three group games on Thursday evening to finish the round robin stages in fourth place. In the semi-finals he played Mark Selby who had yet to lose a game after finishing the group stages with six wins out of six. However, Trump got his revenge for Selby's comeback from 0-2 in the round robin stages with a 3-0 putting him into the final. Mark Williams 3-0 win over third place Joe Perry gave him the final match up with Trump.
After beating Williams from 0-2 behind earlier in the day to keep his hopes of making the knock out stages alive, he carried on that momentum with a 3-1 win in the final.
Ricky Walden was the 'lucky loser' in the sense that despite not making the semi-finals, by finishing fifth in the group he will move on to Group 3 with Mark Williams, Mark Selby and Joe Perry.
As for Robert Milkins and Barry Hawkins they were both eliminated, after Milkins could not follow his runners-up finish in group one with only one win from six group matches leaving him bottom of the group. Barry Hawkins couldn't take advantage of his fortunate fifth place finish in group one and over the course of the week was only able to win four matches out of 12, with two wins in each group.
The Championship League will now be back with Group 3 starting on Monday 18th January with Michael White, Marco Fu and Stephen Maguire being the newcomers that are joined by Williams, Walden, Selby and Perry who are all aiming to try and join Ronnie O'Sullivan and Judd Trump who have qualified for the Winners Group so far.
Now though it's time for the Masters, the preview for which I published earlier on today here:
http://cueactionsnookerblog.blogspot.co.uk/2016/01/the-big-masters-preview.html
After beating Williams from 0-2 behind earlier in the day to keep his hopes of making the knock out stages alive, he carried on that momentum with a 3-1 win in the final.
Ricky Walden was the 'lucky loser' in the sense that despite not making the semi-finals, by finishing fifth in the group he will move on to Group 3 with Mark Williams, Mark Selby and Joe Perry.
As for Robert Milkins and Barry Hawkins they were both eliminated, after Milkins could not follow his runners-up finish in group one with only one win from six group matches leaving him bottom of the group. Barry Hawkins couldn't take advantage of his fortunate fifth place finish in group one and over the course of the week was only able to win four matches out of 12, with two wins in each group.
The Championship League will now be back with Group 3 starting on Monday 18th January with Michael White, Marco Fu and Stephen Maguire being the newcomers that are joined by Williams, Walden, Selby and Perry who are all aiming to try and join Ronnie O'Sullivan and Judd Trump who have qualified for the Winners Group so far.
Now though it's time for the Masters, the preview for which I published earlier on today here:
http://cueactionsnookerblog.blogspot.co.uk/2016/01/the-big-masters-preview.html
THE BIG MASTERS PREVIEW
If you're worried about the 'Post-Christmas blues' then fear not, it's time for the second Triple Crown event of the season and the very first of the New Year, The Masters. The Masters is right up there for me as my second favourite tournament behind the World Championships. As far as my favourite Masters go, the recent 2013 edition was a fantastic week full of classic matches that I was able to watch practically all of as I was snowed in for a week!!! Any excuse to watch some extra snooker...
Shaun Murphy of course is the defending champion at the Alexandra Palace after his excellent victory that saw him complete the Triple Crown. The Ally Pally has just seen the successful defence of the World Darts Championship by Gary Anderson, so who knows what could be in store over the next 8 days of snooker.
The Alexandra Palace has been a great venue for snooker since 2012, and has witnessed four finals, two of which have been contested between Shaun Murphy and Neil Robertson, while Mark Selby has appeared in the other two at the Ally Pally.
Ronnie O'Sullivan will make his full TV comeback after missing his UK Championships and Champion of Champions title defences at the back end of 2015. What we did see from Ronnie most recently was a victory in Group one of the Championship League winning eight games out of eight and passing 800 career century breaks in the process, and it will be interesting to see if he can take the same good form to the big stage.
Neil Robertson is another of the main contenders given his domination at the UK Championships in York, and the Champion of Champions in Coventry, along with the fact that he has reached three of the last four Masters finals.
That's just a little about some of the contenders though as it's time to go through the draw as I try and predict who I think will really be in the mix at the latter stages in London.
Shaun Murphy Vs Mark Allen
Barry Hawkins Vs Joe Perry
Barry Hawkins has never yet won a match at the Masters, not without chances too also. In 2013 he lost from 3-5 ahead against Judd Trump, while in 2014 it got worse as he lost from 2-5 ahead to Ricky Walden. His form has hardly been sparkling this season so far after a Last 64 exit in the UK Championships and early exits in the Chinese ranking events. When it comes to his chances of winning the Masters I would say it would be a huge surprise to be honest. Hawkins has solidly under performed since the 2014 UK Championships in all truth despite a miraculous performance at the World Championships last season and a win in Riga at the start of this one.
In the first round this week Barry takes on Joe Perry. Joe was able to get his first win in the Masters last season against Ding Junhui and he's in for a tight match this year when he takes on Hawkins. Joe is a quality player and despite some troubles around the time of the UK Championships he has had a good performance or two since winning his first ranking event last season. Though it might not mean very much, when the pair met at the Championship League this week Hawkins won 3-2 from 2-0 down. I expect it to be that close again, but with Hawkins struggling throughout the Championship League and his form overall being poor I fancy Perry to steal that one.
Mark Allen has had yet another unlucky draw at the Masters. After losing to Neil Robertson three years in a row, and on two of those three occasions Neil made the final. He missed out on a final with Neil Robertson at last years Masters after losing to his first round opponent of this year, Shaun Murphy, in the semi-finals. Mark has shown decent form this season so far with a win on the European Tour which led to a run to the final of the Champion of Champions final. However, he disappointed with a Last 32 exit to Martin Gould in the UK Championships in the next event, so that is another thing he will be looking to put right at the Palace. If he can beat Shaun I would certainly fancy him to make it into a third career Masters semi-final, and maybe even to a first ever Masters final. It all depends on how much hard work has really gone in over Christmas, because that is where a lot of players do let themselves down.
Shaun Murphy has been working very hard ahead of his Masters defence and he will be aiming once again to go all the way and have the best possible go at defending his title, his final leg of the Triple Crown he had waited so long for. He loves the venue at the Alexandra Palace which is evident from his previous results there. A final in 2012 was followed up by two semi-finals in 2013 and 2014 before winning the title comprehensively a year ago. Other than a few decent runs on the European Tour, there hasn't been a great deal for Murphy to shout about since his World final loss back in May, but in a way that mirrors how his form had been before he lifted the crystal last season. Since then he has moved out to the peace of the countryside, where he now has a table in his house to practice on as much as he likes and that should pay off for him in the future. It is all set to be a tough match up with his good friend Mark Allen, but he has a very strong record over the Northern Irishman in recent times, and if he can win that match then I feel like he would go from strength to strength thereafter, as the ultimate mirroring of 2015 could be made possible.
Quarter Winner: Shaun Murphy
Judd Trump Vs Stephen Maguire
Neil Robertson Vs Marco Fu
Stephen Maguire is someone who has been in and out of form for a while and as the sixteenth seed he is lucky to even be here. In fact the week after the seedings were cut off and the draw completed, Michael White got to the Gibraltar Open final and knocked Stephen Maguire down to number 17 in the world rankings. His form has been average for quite a while in all truth and he will certainly have to improve if he is to carry on qualifying for events like the Masters. His first round match with Judd Trump is a repeat of the first round last year in which Maguire actually came out on the winning side and while he has half a chance if he plays well, with the quarter that he has landed in I can't see him making it through to the latter stages.
Marco Fu may only be a couple of places ahead of Stephen Maguire in the seedings but his form is going back in the opposite direction again now. This season has seen Marco catch a European Tour title and make the quarter-finals of both the UK and International Championships. Throughout this period I have been impressed with the continual scoring power that Marco has shown. Fu was a finalist in the last Masters prior to the switch to the Alexandra Palace and has made the quarter-finals in both of the last two years. This year he faces a very tough first round tie with Neil Robertson.
Neil Robertson became the UK champion for the second time in December and has reached three of the four Masters finals held at the Alexandra Palace, and last lost in the first round of the Masters in 2010, prior to winning the World Championships just a few months after. After becoming the Champion of Champions in November as well as UK Champion in the following event, the evidence is all there that Neil is now one of the best when it comes to peaking for the big events because as far as every other event is concerned he has struggled this season. On the European Tour he has only turned up to one event and has been totally non-existent on that front, while just a couple of weeks after winning the UK title he lost to amateur Ashley Hugill 5-1 in German Masters qualifying. It would not surprise me if Marco came out on top of Neil, because what people always forget about the Hong Kong cueist is his scoring power that has always been a good feature of his game and means he won't fear Neil's. With Neil's Masters record though you would equally lack surprise if he went on to win the whole thing or at least make a fourth final in five years.
Judd Trump is my man to really watch out for in this years Masters. For whatever reason Judd has not had the best record in the event, with one semi-final and two first round exits in four visits to the tournament as a full seed (after playing in the old wildcard round in 2009). His main goal (other than winning the World Championships) is a good run at the Masters sighting his poor record as the reason for this. This season for Judd has been a strange one as he has lost some really weird matches. Other than a Shanghai final the season has been a struggle overall with mixed results on the European Tour as well as a Last 32 exit in the UK Championships from 4-1 up and a 6-0 qualifying defeat to Michael Wild in the Last 128 of the International Championships. This season has started better for him with a Championship League group victory at the first time of asking this week, seeing that as valuable match practice for the Masters itself. The first step for Judd will be to earn his revenge on Stephen Maguire for inflicting last years first round exit, but if he can find his inspiring best game then he is certainly one of the main contenders for the title this week.
Quarter Winner: Judd Trump
Mark Selby Vs Ricky Walden
Ronnie O'Sullivan Vs Mark Williams
Ricky Walden has had a poor season so far and by his own admission has plenty of improving to do. While his record in the Masters isn't as bad as some of the other guys in the event, he has never been through to the latter stages and with Mark Selby in round one and his nemesis Ronnie O'Sullivan a possibility if he did get through then I have to make any chance of this changing a high improbability this year.
Mark Williams is back in the Masters this year for the first time since 2013. His opponent in round one is a certain Mr O'Sullivan whom his record against in recent times is hardly anything to write home about. Mark's form this season also falls into somewhat the same category after early exits in the UK Championship and International Championships. He has played ok on the European Tour but mainly against lower ranked players which is why he hasn't quite gotten over the line and won a title. Given the form that Ronnie O'Sullivan exhibited at the Championship League, Williams will certainly be up against it and you have to fancy the Rockets chances a lot more than the Welsh Potting Machine.
Ronnie O'Sullivan is on his full TV comeback here at the Masters since his World Championship quarter-final exit at the end of last season. The first thing not to do with Ronnie is think that he packed his cue away and had all of this time off. Firstly, he had been playing in some of the Pro-Am events (and winning a good amount of these) down at the South West Snooker Academy in Gloucester. He has also been touring the country playing in a host of clubs as part of the snooker legends exhibitions. His actual comeback to the tour came just prior to Christmas in the German Masters qualifiers. On this occasion he won his first qualifying match against Hamza Akbar comfortably before losing to a strong Last 64 opponent in Stuart Carrington who had to play very well there for his 5-3 victory. It was by no means handed to him. Then this week, for some Masters match practice you would imagine, he turned up at Crondon Park in Essex for the Championship League where he won every single won of his six round robin games to top the group and make the semi-finals. He then secured the group one win with 3-0 victories in both the semi's and final. When it comes to playing at the top level at the Masters it has only been two years since he won the title only dropping a handful of frames. Mark Williams has got a big game on his hands in round one, but round two could very much be a different story with a possible match-up with one of his greatest rivals.
Mark Selby is no stranger to going all the way at the Masters. In eight appearances at the Masters he has won it three times in 2008, 2010 and 2013, with two other final appearances in 2009 and 2014. Even last year when he lost 6-5 in the opening round, it was to the eventual winner Shaun Murphy, whom he was also beaten by in the 2012 quarter-finals. Mark will be pleased with his match practice in the Championship League second group this week as he won all of his six group matches to top the group, before losing in the semi-finals to eventual group winner Judd Trump. While there has been no title for Selby so far in the 2015/2016 season, he did reach the last four in the UK and International Championships before losing to the eventual winner of both. He is no stranger to performing on the big stage and the one table set-up of the Masters has always been one of Selby's favourites to perform on. I would certainly fancy him to beat Ricky Walden in round one, and if you think he could be the greatest challenger to the Rocket with their possible quarter-final meeting then the 9/1 you can get with Coral on him to win the title is a massive price, and he is still available at 8/1 in other places too.
Quarter Winner: Mark Selby
John Higgins Vs Liang Wenbo
Stuart Bingham Vs Ding Junhui
Liang Wenbo is on debut at the Masters after making the final of the UK Championships in December, which elevated him to number 15 in the world. He has also made the semi-finals of the Gibraltar Open the week after, but after an extended break it will be interesting to see if he can carry that form on to the Ally Pally and end his Higgins hoodoo. He has never beaten John in any of their previous meetings, including their most recent one at this seasons Shanghai Masters where John was a convincing winner. However, if can re-create that snooker from December and beat Higgins he could easily become a dark horse for this event too. With some of the twitching he did under pressure at the UK then he will have to keep his nerves under control on his first Masters outing if he is to beat Higgins and overall I have too favour John to win that one.
John Higgins is a player of major quality as we all know and has of course won the Masters title twice in his career coming into this years edition. However, in 21 overall appearances at the Masters featuring in every single one since 1995, he has lost in the first round on 11 occasions which equates to half. To put it into perspective, he has been to one less final of the Masters than Mark Selby with Selby having 13 less appearances, and his greatest rival Ronnie O'Sullivan has won more Masters titles than John has reached Masters finals. In fact, it has been 10 years since John's last Masters final which was when he won the title in 2006. He has regained some form this season with a big ranking victory at the International Championships and a deciding frame loss to eventual UK champion Neil Robertson in the quarter-finals. The year ended poorly as he failed to secure German Masters qualification and this one started in a weird fashion too at the Championship League. Turning up for group one he was only able to win two of his six round robin games and was eliminated from the overall competition after finishing sixth in the group. From what I saw of Higgins he looked like he couldn't really be bothered and was far too relaxed. Even if it is only match practice for the Masters he should still take it seriously and you would certainly be looking for stronger signs than the ones he gave out. If he is on his game he could easily beat Wenbo in round one who is on Masters debut, and a player he has never lost to in his career and the semi-finals at least is a major possibility but he will have to play very well to win the whole thing.
Ding Junhui comes to the Masters in an interesting position. On the slide in the rankings after a very poor year and a half in the game it is hard to see when the Chinaman's form is going to return. A first round exit in the UK Championships continued a very poor trend of results in the UK since he won his Masters title in 2011 and reached the World semi-finals in the same year. In fact since winning the Masters at the Wembley Arena in 2011 he has failed to win a match at the Masters in the four that have been held at the Alexandra Palace. That has not been without chances either. In 2013 he was 5-3 ahead of Neil Robertson before losing the last three frames and from 4-2 ahead to Shaun Murphy in the 2014 Masters he lost the last four to lose 6-4. Last year he was the third seed for the event but never looked like a factor in a 6-3 loss to Joe Perry. The only hope of victory he has is that he is playing a man in Stuart Bingham who has never won a match at the Masters in all of his appearances, but there is certainly nothing in Ding's form that would suggest a run in this tournament is possible.
Stuart Bingham may not have won a match in the Masters, having appeared consistently since 2012, but he has never turned up to any of those events with the confidence of being world champion. The Christmas break came at exactly the right time for Stuart in my opinion. After struggling for form in the main ranking events a little bit after winning the World title in May, he has now had some more reflection time. He still made the Shanghai Masters semi-finals in September, and despite a Last 32 exit at York he finished the year by making the semi-finals of the Gibraltar Open and getting two very nice wins to secure German Masters qualification. That will help him feel better about his game, and he has now had some key time ahead of the competition to practice and come into the Masters fresh and raring to go. On top of this his recent record against Ding Junhui in their major meetings is a very favourable one for Stuart. He may see this as a chance to prove a point after a half-season hangover from winning the World Championships and with his draw the way it is he could easily make it into the semi-finals if other players don't find their form and he plays near his best.
Quarter Winner: Stuart Bingham
Tournament Runner-Up: Mark Selby
Tournament Winner: Judd Trump
That's my verdict, and I hope that my reasoning helps you to come up with your own. How close will we all be, well we will have to wait until next Sunday to find that one out. I'm sure that we will have a fantastic event to watch throughout the eight days of action from the Alexandra Palace on BBC in the UK or on Eurosport. All of the usual suspects will be there for the BBC, along with a new punditry face as Peter Ebdon steps in for the Sunday and Monday of the event, and knowing how strong an opinion that Peter has about things along with an incredible snooker brain he will be a fantastic addition to the team.
I hope you have all enjoyed my preview and will come back for more of my analysis throughout the event.
Shaun Murphy of course is the defending champion at the Alexandra Palace after his excellent victory that saw him complete the Triple Crown. The Ally Pally has just seen the successful defence of the World Darts Championship by Gary Anderson, so who knows what could be in store over the next 8 days of snooker.
The Alexandra Palace has been a great venue for snooker since 2012, and has witnessed four finals, two of which have been contested between Shaun Murphy and Neil Robertson, while Mark Selby has appeared in the other two at the Ally Pally.
Ronnie O'Sullivan will make his full TV comeback after missing his UK Championships and Champion of Champions title defences at the back end of 2015. What we did see from Ronnie most recently was a victory in Group one of the Championship League winning eight games out of eight and passing 800 career century breaks in the process, and it will be interesting to see if he can take the same good form to the big stage.
Neil Robertson is another of the main contenders given his domination at the UK Championships in York, and the Champion of Champions in Coventry, along with the fact that he has reached three of the last four Masters finals.
That's just a little about some of the contenders though as it's time to go through the draw as I try and predict who I think will really be in the mix at the latter stages in London.
Quarter 1
First Round Draw: (Picks in Bold)Shaun Murphy Vs Mark Allen
Barry Hawkins Vs Joe Perry
Barry Hawkins has never yet won a match at the Masters, not without chances too also. In 2013 he lost from 3-5 ahead against Judd Trump, while in 2014 it got worse as he lost from 2-5 ahead to Ricky Walden. His form has hardly been sparkling this season so far after a Last 64 exit in the UK Championships and early exits in the Chinese ranking events. When it comes to his chances of winning the Masters I would say it would be a huge surprise to be honest. Hawkins has solidly under performed since the 2014 UK Championships in all truth despite a miraculous performance at the World Championships last season and a win in Riga at the start of this one.
In the first round this week Barry takes on Joe Perry. Joe was able to get his first win in the Masters last season against Ding Junhui and he's in for a tight match this year when he takes on Hawkins. Joe is a quality player and despite some troubles around the time of the UK Championships he has had a good performance or two since winning his first ranking event last season. Though it might not mean very much, when the pair met at the Championship League this week Hawkins won 3-2 from 2-0 down. I expect it to be that close again, but with Hawkins struggling throughout the Championship League and his form overall being poor I fancy Perry to steal that one.
Mark Allen has had yet another unlucky draw at the Masters. After losing to Neil Robertson three years in a row, and on two of those three occasions Neil made the final. He missed out on a final with Neil Robertson at last years Masters after losing to his first round opponent of this year, Shaun Murphy, in the semi-finals. Mark has shown decent form this season so far with a win on the European Tour which led to a run to the final of the Champion of Champions final. However, he disappointed with a Last 32 exit to Martin Gould in the UK Championships in the next event, so that is another thing he will be looking to put right at the Palace. If he can beat Shaun I would certainly fancy him to make it into a third career Masters semi-final, and maybe even to a first ever Masters final. It all depends on how much hard work has really gone in over Christmas, because that is where a lot of players do let themselves down.
Shaun Murphy has been working very hard ahead of his Masters defence and he will be aiming once again to go all the way and have the best possible go at defending his title, his final leg of the Triple Crown he had waited so long for. He loves the venue at the Alexandra Palace which is evident from his previous results there. A final in 2012 was followed up by two semi-finals in 2013 and 2014 before winning the title comprehensively a year ago. Other than a few decent runs on the European Tour, there hasn't been a great deal for Murphy to shout about since his World final loss back in May, but in a way that mirrors how his form had been before he lifted the crystal last season. Since then he has moved out to the peace of the countryside, where he now has a table in his house to practice on as much as he likes and that should pay off for him in the future. It is all set to be a tough match up with his good friend Mark Allen, but he has a very strong record over the Northern Irishman in recent times, and if he can win that match then I feel like he would go from strength to strength thereafter, as the ultimate mirroring of 2015 could be made possible.
Quarter Winner: Shaun Murphy
Quarter 2
First Round Draw: (Picks in Bold)Judd Trump Vs Stephen Maguire
Neil Robertson Vs Marco Fu
Stephen Maguire is someone who has been in and out of form for a while and as the sixteenth seed he is lucky to even be here. In fact the week after the seedings were cut off and the draw completed, Michael White got to the Gibraltar Open final and knocked Stephen Maguire down to number 17 in the world rankings. His form has been average for quite a while in all truth and he will certainly have to improve if he is to carry on qualifying for events like the Masters. His first round match with Judd Trump is a repeat of the first round last year in which Maguire actually came out on the winning side and while he has half a chance if he plays well, with the quarter that he has landed in I can't see him making it through to the latter stages.
Marco Fu may only be a couple of places ahead of Stephen Maguire in the seedings but his form is going back in the opposite direction again now. This season has seen Marco catch a European Tour title and make the quarter-finals of both the UK and International Championships. Throughout this period I have been impressed with the continual scoring power that Marco has shown. Fu was a finalist in the last Masters prior to the switch to the Alexandra Palace and has made the quarter-finals in both of the last two years. This year he faces a very tough first round tie with Neil Robertson.
Neil Robertson became the UK champion for the second time in December and has reached three of the four Masters finals held at the Alexandra Palace, and last lost in the first round of the Masters in 2010, prior to winning the World Championships just a few months after. After becoming the Champion of Champions in November as well as UK Champion in the following event, the evidence is all there that Neil is now one of the best when it comes to peaking for the big events because as far as every other event is concerned he has struggled this season. On the European Tour he has only turned up to one event and has been totally non-existent on that front, while just a couple of weeks after winning the UK title he lost to amateur Ashley Hugill 5-1 in German Masters qualifying. It would not surprise me if Marco came out on top of Neil, because what people always forget about the Hong Kong cueist is his scoring power that has always been a good feature of his game and means he won't fear Neil's. With Neil's Masters record though you would equally lack surprise if he went on to win the whole thing or at least make a fourth final in five years.
Judd Trump is my man to really watch out for in this years Masters. For whatever reason Judd has not had the best record in the event, with one semi-final and two first round exits in four visits to the tournament as a full seed (after playing in the old wildcard round in 2009). His main goal (other than winning the World Championships) is a good run at the Masters sighting his poor record as the reason for this. This season for Judd has been a strange one as he has lost some really weird matches. Other than a Shanghai final the season has been a struggle overall with mixed results on the European Tour as well as a Last 32 exit in the UK Championships from 4-1 up and a 6-0 qualifying defeat to Michael Wild in the Last 128 of the International Championships. This season has started better for him with a Championship League group victory at the first time of asking this week, seeing that as valuable match practice for the Masters itself. The first step for Judd will be to earn his revenge on Stephen Maguire for inflicting last years first round exit, but if he can find his inspiring best game then he is certainly one of the main contenders for the title this week.
Quarter Winner: Judd Trump
Quarter 3
First Round Draw: (Picks in Bold)Mark Selby Vs Ricky Walden
Ronnie O'Sullivan Vs Mark Williams
Ricky Walden has had a poor season so far and by his own admission has plenty of improving to do. While his record in the Masters isn't as bad as some of the other guys in the event, he has never been through to the latter stages and with Mark Selby in round one and his nemesis Ronnie O'Sullivan a possibility if he did get through then I have to make any chance of this changing a high improbability this year.
Mark Williams is back in the Masters this year for the first time since 2013. His opponent in round one is a certain Mr O'Sullivan whom his record against in recent times is hardly anything to write home about. Mark's form this season also falls into somewhat the same category after early exits in the UK Championship and International Championships. He has played ok on the European Tour but mainly against lower ranked players which is why he hasn't quite gotten over the line and won a title. Given the form that Ronnie O'Sullivan exhibited at the Championship League, Williams will certainly be up against it and you have to fancy the Rockets chances a lot more than the Welsh Potting Machine.
Ronnie O'Sullivan is on his full TV comeback here at the Masters since his World Championship quarter-final exit at the end of last season. The first thing not to do with Ronnie is think that he packed his cue away and had all of this time off. Firstly, he had been playing in some of the Pro-Am events (and winning a good amount of these) down at the South West Snooker Academy in Gloucester. He has also been touring the country playing in a host of clubs as part of the snooker legends exhibitions. His actual comeback to the tour came just prior to Christmas in the German Masters qualifiers. On this occasion he won his first qualifying match against Hamza Akbar comfortably before losing to a strong Last 64 opponent in Stuart Carrington who had to play very well there for his 5-3 victory. It was by no means handed to him. Then this week, for some Masters match practice you would imagine, he turned up at Crondon Park in Essex for the Championship League where he won every single won of his six round robin games to top the group and make the semi-finals. He then secured the group one win with 3-0 victories in both the semi's and final. When it comes to playing at the top level at the Masters it has only been two years since he won the title only dropping a handful of frames. Mark Williams has got a big game on his hands in round one, but round two could very much be a different story with a possible match-up with one of his greatest rivals.
Mark Selby is no stranger to going all the way at the Masters. In eight appearances at the Masters he has won it three times in 2008, 2010 and 2013, with two other final appearances in 2009 and 2014. Even last year when he lost 6-5 in the opening round, it was to the eventual winner Shaun Murphy, whom he was also beaten by in the 2012 quarter-finals. Mark will be pleased with his match practice in the Championship League second group this week as he won all of his six group matches to top the group, before losing in the semi-finals to eventual group winner Judd Trump. While there has been no title for Selby so far in the 2015/2016 season, he did reach the last four in the UK and International Championships before losing to the eventual winner of both. He is no stranger to performing on the big stage and the one table set-up of the Masters has always been one of Selby's favourites to perform on. I would certainly fancy him to beat Ricky Walden in round one, and if you think he could be the greatest challenger to the Rocket with their possible quarter-final meeting then the 9/1 you can get with Coral on him to win the title is a massive price, and he is still available at 8/1 in other places too.
Quarter Winner: Mark Selby
Quarter 4
First Round Draw: (Picks in Bold)John Higgins Vs Liang Wenbo
Stuart Bingham Vs Ding Junhui
Liang Wenbo is on debut at the Masters after making the final of the UK Championships in December, which elevated him to number 15 in the world. He has also made the semi-finals of the Gibraltar Open the week after, but after an extended break it will be interesting to see if he can carry that form on to the Ally Pally and end his Higgins hoodoo. He has never beaten John in any of their previous meetings, including their most recent one at this seasons Shanghai Masters where John was a convincing winner. However, if can re-create that snooker from December and beat Higgins he could easily become a dark horse for this event too. With some of the twitching he did under pressure at the UK then he will have to keep his nerves under control on his first Masters outing if he is to beat Higgins and overall I have too favour John to win that one.
John Higgins is a player of major quality as we all know and has of course won the Masters title twice in his career coming into this years edition. However, in 21 overall appearances at the Masters featuring in every single one since 1995, he has lost in the first round on 11 occasions which equates to half. To put it into perspective, he has been to one less final of the Masters than Mark Selby with Selby having 13 less appearances, and his greatest rival Ronnie O'Sullivan has won more Masters titles than John has reached Masters finals. In fact, it has been 10 years since John's last Masters final which was when he won the title in 2006. He has regained some form this season with a big ranking victory at the International Championships and a deciding frame loss to eventual UK champion Neil Robertson in the quarter-finals. The year ended poorly as he failed to secure German Masters qualification and this one started in a weird fashion too at the Championship League. Turning up for group one he was only able to win two of his six round robin games and was eliminated from the overall competition after finishing sixth in the group. From what I saw of Higgins he looked like he couldn't really be bothered and was far too relaxed. Even if it is only match practice for the Masters he should still take it seriously and you would certainly be looking for stronger signs than the ones he gave out. If he is on his game he could easily beat Wenbo in round one who is on Masters debut, and a player he has never lost to in his career and the semi-finals at least is a major possibility but he will have to play very well to win the whole thing.
Ding Junhui comes to the Masters in an interesting position. On the slide in the rankings after a very poor year and a half in the game it is hard to see when the Chinaman's form is going to return. A first round exit in the UK Championships continued a very poor trend of results in the UK since he won his Masters title in 2011 and reached the World semi-finals in the same year. In fact since winning the Masters at the Wembley Arena in 2011 he has failed to win a match at the Masters in the four that have been held at the Alexandra Palace. That has not been without chances either. In 2013 he was 5-3 ahead of Neil Robertson before losing the last three frames and from 4-2 ahead to Shaun Murphy in the 2014 Masters he lost the last four to lose 6-4. Last year he was the third seed for the event but never looked like a factor in a 6-3 loss to Joe Perry. The only hope of victory he has is that he is playing a man in Stuart Bingham who has never won a match at the Masters in all of his appearances, but there is certainly nothing in Ding's form that would suggest a run in this tournament is possible.
Stuart Bingham may not have won a match in the Masters, having appeared consistently since 2012, but he has never turned up to any of those events with the confidence of being world champion. The Christmas break came at exactly the right time for Stuart in my opinion. After struggling for form in the main ranking events a little bit after winning the World title in May, he has now had some more reflection time. He still made the Shanghai Masters semi-finals in September, and despite a Last 32 exit at York he finished the year by making the semi-finals of the Gibraltar Open and getting two very nice wins to secure German Masters qualification. That will help him feel better about his game, and he has now had some key time ahead of the competition to practice and come into the Masters fresh and raring to go. On top of this his recent record against Ding Junhui in their major meetings is a very favourable one for Stuart. He may see this as a chance to prove a point after a half-season hangover from winning the World Championships and with his draw the way it is he could easily make it into the semi-finals if other players don't find their form and he plays near his best.
Quarter Winner: Stuart Bingham
Tournament Runner-Up: Mark Selby
Tournament Winner: Judd Trump
That's my verdict, and I hope that my reasoning helps you to come up with your own. How close will we all be, well we will have to wait until next Sunday to find that one out. I'm sure that we will have a fantastic event to watch throughout the eight days of action from the Alexandra Palace on BBC in the UK or on Eurosport. All of the usual suspects will be there for the BBC, along with a new punditry face as Peter Ebdon steps in for the Sunday and Monday of the event, and knowing how strong an opinion that Peter has about things along with an incredible snooker brain he will be a fantastic addition to the team.
I hope you have all enjoyed my preview and will come back for more of my analysis throughout the event.
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