Martin Gould and Luca Brecel set for Tempodrome Tussle

Martin Gould and Luca Brecel are through to contest the German Masters final tomorrow after winning what looked like two tense battles on paper, and proved to be exactly that.

First off, in the afternoon Martin Gould may have beaten Graeme Dott by a comfortable score line but it was a very tense affair. Graeme could not get going on the day and despite plenty of chances and not a large amount of heavy scoring from Gould it was he that took a 4-0 lead into the interval to leave the Scot struggling. In frame five, the 2006 world champion was able to get his first frame on the board and even when the pinner potter went 5-1 in front that was a small feeling of 'we've been here before' about the match. That of course comes after Gould relinquished 5-1 leads in both, last years Grand Prix semi-final against Trump and the UK quarter-final to David Grace. That may well have been in Martin's mind as Dott got a frame back to 2-5 after chances for Martin came and went, and Dott was still far from the form that saw him beat Maguire and Hawkins in the two previous rounds. In all it seemed a struggle for him to get used to the table and in a very nervy frame eight Dott missed the green needing only it, the brown and blue to force another frame and Martin was able to clear down to the pink to end what was a poor quality affair and put himself into the Berlin finale.

In the evening conditions were very tough as Belgian Brecel beat Kyren Wilson. The first frame was very nervy with both players having chances, though Wilson had the best of them and was made to pay for his misses on the colours when Luca cleared pink and black to take it. The next two followed with a high break of 48 to put him 3-0 in front. He did squander an early opportunity in the fourth however, looking to go into the break 4-0 in front but the Shanghai Masters champion was able to scrap away and see that it was only 1-3. Another frame was grinded out by Wilson to make it 2-3, but Brecel hit back with a 67 in the sixth (the highest break in the match) to give himself some more breathing space at 4-2. The Warrior continued to fight as the 20 year old missed a chance to steal frame seven, but in frame eight a cool 63 made up for it to put him one frame away. Wilson had a massive chance in frame nine to continue the match, and he did in fact make his highest break in the match (51) before a few kicks meant he eventually lost position on the green and had a wild swing at it, leaving it on for the Belgium who duly cleared to the pink to put himself into his first ever ranking event final.


Semi-Final Results:

Martin Gould 6-2 Graeme Dott
Luca Brecel 6-3 Kyren Wilson

Final Preview:

Martin Gould Vs Luca Brecel - This is going to be a very interesting final. Neither player has ever won a ranking event. For Martin this is his third time in a final, the most recent coming in Australia earlier this season which he lost in a decider to John Higgins. Luca has never been in a final, but at the age of 20 you would not expect him to have been either in fairness so this is a great opportunity for him. Who's the pressure on more? Well, Martin is 34 which means that time is running out for him a little bit and of course he comes into this final as a favourite, something he wasn't in either of the previous two. Luca meanwhile is so talented that he is sure to become a ranking winner at some point, and most likely a multiple winner given the time he has left in his career. Money and ranking wise, by getting to the final the players are guaranteed £26,250 with £60,000 going to the winner. Brecel is already up to a career high ranking of 28 but will go up even further to 20 if he can take the title. Gould meanwhile is provisionally to 18 but will go inside the top 16 to 15th in the world with victory over the young Belgium.

In getting this far you would say the pinner potter has had the hardest route by far. Mark Williams was seen off in round one 5-4, before he beat Murphy's conqueror Ben Woollaston 5-0 in round two. The quarter-finals saw him edge Judd Trump 5-4 in a tense one before Dott was far from his best in the semi's today either. Luca meanwhile took on another talented youngster in Zhao Xintong on the TV table in round one beating him 5-2, he then had to see off Kurt Maflin who was playing very well in a tight one 5-3. The quarters saw him come from 4-2 down to beat Mark Joyce who came into that one having just played he self-proclaimed "game of his life", while in the semi's against Kyren I think a mixture of Kyren's own poor play and the horrific conditions saw to a nervy performance. I think Luca will relax more in the final and that could be the key as Gould got very tense in his semi-final and the back end of his quarter-final with Trump. The crowd are very fair in Berlin but you get the sense that with a continental European in the final in Luca Brecel he will get their support, as it would be a great story for this well supported tournament if the main continental European contender could go on to win it. Luca also seems very level headed for a man of his age. His Dad's support may be part of the reason behind that and in victory today (the biggest of his career) there was no celebration and he talked down the part that the conditions had to play in his performance and just put it down to what he did wrong. Nothing seems to faze him and he doesn't have some of the mental scar tissue that Gould may have. Overall, I would be very surprised if anyone player ran away with it and it may just be a case of who holds his nerve and doesn't make as many silly mistakes. Both players have been scoring well and some of the Belgium's safety was impressive particularly in the tactical opening frame, as that is the main weakness of his game.


Prediction: Luca Brecel to take a nervy battle 9-7

Overall, it has been another entertaining few days for the German fans in Berlin and hopefully the final tomorrow will live up to that and be a suitable end to the week with some more quality snooker.

No rest for the wicked from here, Monday sees the draw for China Open qualifiers that run from the Tuesday to Thursday along with the Welsh Open which starts on the following Monday, while the Snooker Shoot-out takes place in Reading on the Friday to Sunday between those two. Snooker all the way.