Trump and Selby breeze through on opening day in Berlin

Judd Trump and Mark Selby were easy winners on the opening day of the German Masters on a day featuring plenty of one-sided matches. Selby was up first in the afternoon against huge underdog Steven Hallworth, and his outsider status and inexperience was demonstrated as he left really no mark on the match as Selby dominated in a 5-0 whitewash victory. Also in the afternoon, Graeme Dott won yet another frame on a re-spotted black (after two in two days of Championship League action) on the way to a crushing 5-0 win of his own against Tian Pengfei, while fellow Scot Stephen Maguire beat 1997 world champion Ken Doherty 5-1.

Judd Trump was the TV match in the evening session as he took on The Captain Ali Carter, in a match many including myself expected to be close and gave Carter a good chance of winning. On the night though Ali didn't take the half chances on offer early and Judd kicked into top gear with some heavy scoring to record a 5-0 victory. He will now play his stable mate Zhang Anda in the last 16 after he crushed Alfie Burden 5-0, winning the final frame from 66-0 down to rub salt into the Londoner's wounds.

Elsewhere, Masters runner-up Barry Hawkins carried on from the Ally Pally with a decent 5-2 win against Scotsman Alan McManus to set up a tie with a fellow Scot Graeme Dott. The tale of the match from Hawkins seemed to be getting in first in most frames and building a commanding lead before Angles was given a chance.

The final two matches of the evening then went to deciders with Martin Gould recovering after squandering an early 2-0 lead as he made a big break in the final frame against Mark Williams who didn't have a chance. Finally, Ben Woollaston recovered from a 2-0 deficit early in the match and won the fourth frame after Murphy missed the final black. Shaun still went on to lead 3-2 and 4-3 but two good breaks from the Leicester cueist in the final two frames saw him come back to win 5-4.

Day 1 Results:

Mark Selby 5-0 Steven Hallworth
Stephen Maguire 5-1 Ken Doherty
Graeme Dott 5-0 Tian Pengfei
Barry Hawkins 5-2 Alan McManus
Judd Trump 5-0 Ali Carter
Zhang Anda 5-0 Alfie Burden
Martin Gould 5-4 Mark Williams
Ben Woollaston 5-4 Shaun Murphy

The bottom half of the draw kick off their bids for a Tempodrome Triumph tomorrow, with three more matches in the morning and the remaining five in the afternoon. Then in the evening the four second round matches from the top half of the draw will be played out with the same best-of-9 frames format.

You can read what I make of the bottom half of the draw this week in my pre-tournament preview here: http://cueactionsnookerblog.blogspot.co.uk/2016/01/german-masters-preview.html

Meanwhile, here is a quick preview of the four Last 16 matches that will be played out tomorrow evening.

Last 16 Top Half Preview: (Picks in Bold)

Mark Selby Vs Stephen Maguire - The top match in the draw here in a repeat of last years semi-final is certainly going to be a tough one to call. Both players had easy wins in their opening games although their respective opponents were both under par and could've put them under some pressure. You could see a little bit in the match with Selby and Hallworth that the Jester knew he wasn't going to be punished for his mistakes and after the first couple of frames he my have taken his foot off of the gas, but that only leads me to think that when put under pressure by Maguire that he will be fresh and primed to push on. Coming into the event both players were playing well in the Championship League and even showed glimpses in the Masters that they were striking the ball sweetly so it will be a tight contest. Often for the Scotsman in round one against Doherty (following the match from live scores) Maguire was often picking up the pieces with clearances after the Irishman had had his opportunities. Selby would be liable to make a lot more from those than the 1997 world champion and that could possibly be a deciding factor with the defending champions game being the tighter of the two.

Barry Hawkins Vs Graeme Dott - Another England Vs Scotland clash follows here with Hawkins and Dott. The Hawk comes into this event with the good form of his run to the Masters final and that continued in the most part in round one against McManus. Some patches of that match though were closely fought and he can expect a similar deal against another gritty player like the 2006 world champion. Dott made five breaks of 50+ in his win against Tian Pengfei, and took another frame on a re-spotted black, and he appears to have been battle hardened after finding something in his couple of days at Crondon Park last week. This could be an incredibly tight match as well, and you wouldn't be surprised to see a deciding frame one bit. Unfortunately for Dott he doesn't get as many big matches these days compared to Hawkins and this could well be a deciding factor in a match that could turn on one pivotal moment.

Judd Trump Vs Zhang Anda - A battle of the Grove Snooker stable mates is unleashed on the draw once again here, so once again manager Django will most likely be watching from behind a sofa somewhere!! Both players had comfortable matches but Judd was certainly dominant in his win against Ali Carter. The scoring was good from Judd and the tough pressure shots were all going in. Zhang's match with Alfie appeared to be more scrappy in the early stages, but after winning the first couple of frames he didn't look back and he can pose a challenge to Judd here. The important thing for the Bristolian in this contest will be consistency of performance. We saw in the Masters after one of the matches of his life against Neil which was followed by an unexpected loss to Barry Hawkins. He recognised in his post match interview after beating Ali that he knew this was a big event for him with Robertson and O'Sullivan failing to qualify and that is already heaping a lot of pressure on himself at an early stage of the event. Zhang will of course be a big underdog with the bookies and he's on a bit of a hiding to nothing in this one so don't be surprised if he pushes the former world Uk champion all the way.

Martin Gould Vs Ben Woollaston - Both of these guys had tough battles to get through and will just be relieved to be here despite both also playing very well. Gould had to hold on and win the last two frames after leading 2-0 earlier in the match. Gould has been a very solid player over the last year or so and I think this may be another opportunity to kick on. Ben Woollaston also seemed to be impressive against Shaun Murphy. Murphy had also led 2-0 and missed the black to go 3-1 ahead. He still managed to go 4-3 up and at this stage he'd also made breaks of 70, 71 and 90 but 68 from Ben in the decider was key to getting over the line. I'd expect this to be another close match after their tight battles in round one and there's not too much to choose between them. They've already shown great bottle this week, but something clearly has to give here and i'm inclined to lean towards Martin with the more consistent year he is having.


Some quality matches coming up tomorrow then, with Brecel Vs Xintong in the first round on Eurosport in the morning followed by world champion Stuart Bingham Vs Fergal O'Brien in the afternoon, while the evening sessions TV match is yet to be announced though the likelihood is that defending champion Mark Selby's match with Stephen Maguire will be the front runner.