Shoot Out Trends - What it takes to be a winner

Who wants to be a Shoot Out winner? No it doesn't exactly have the same ring to it as the popular quiz show that used to be hosted by Chris Tarrant, but it is certainly still a title worth winning.

Last year, I listed a few of the trends of past winners in the Snooker Shoot Out and this year I will be doing this again and updating it with a few other trends.

The trends I used last year narrowed the field down from 128 to 11 although it was Anthony McGill that would ultimately come through, though he only broke one of the general rules of past winners by being less than 31 in the year that he won the title. Only Michael White of the previous shoot out winners was less than 31 prior to McGill's triumph.

So, before coming up with any new trends, let's look at the ones that are still running from last year and theoretically eliminate some of the contenders.

1. No-one has ever won the Shoot-Out whilst being ranked inside the top 16

Anthony McGill was just outside of the top 16 when he won last year, so this fact remains. Inside the top 16 in the up to date world rankings and entered for this tournament are: Shaun Murphy, Barry Hawkins, Mark Allen, Mark Williams, Ali Carter, Kyren Wilson, Stuart Bingham, Luca Brecel and last year's winner McGill. 

2. No Shoot Out winner has ever won it before. 

This additionally takes out the likes of Dominic Dale, Robin Hull, Nigel Bond, Martin Gould and Michael White.

3. In a new trend I've spotted prior to this year, the furthest a Shoot Out winner has ever gone in the competition prior to the year they won is the Quarter-Finals.

Both 2014 winner Dominic Dale and 2013 winner Martin Gould made the quarter-finals in 2012 but no Shoot Out winner has ever been further than that point in any year prior to victory. 

So, I have removed from the list all former runners-up and anyone that's ever been in a Shoot-Out semi-final. The players that has taken out are: Xiao Guodong, Robert Milkins, Graeme Dott, Tom Ford, Michael Holt, Ryan Day, Jamie Jones and Joe Swail.

4. Since the inaugural event in 2011, only Robin Hull in 2016 won on his tournament debut however.

So while too much prior success in the event does not bode well, neither does being a total newbie to the difference in format and of course the shot clock. Debutants this year : Alex Davies, Billy Castle, Yuan Sijun, Xu Si, Chen Zifan, David Lilley, Lu Haotian, Chris Totten, Li Yuan, Niu Zhuang, Alexander Ursenbacher and Lukas Kleckers

5. Each previous Shoot Out winner has made 100 career centuries (According to CueTracker) 

Shoot Out winners then generally appear to be people either to have the experience of playing long enough to make 100 centuries, or that they are heavy scorers. On this occasion we lose the likes of: Rod Lawler (who is stuck on 99), Matthew Selt (98), Tian Pengfei, Mark Joyce, Gerard Greene, Gary Wilson, Rory McLeod, Sam Baird, Li Hang, Daniel Wells, Zhang Anda, Liam Highfield, Stuart Carrington, Mike Dunn, Zhou Yuelong,  Zhao Xintong, Yan Bingtao and many more

6. While only Nigel Bond and Dominic Dale out of the six previous Shoot-Out winners had won a ranking event, each of the last five winners made at least the quarter-finals of a full ranking event within the two years prior to victory. 2012 winner Hawkins had made semi-finals in PTC events. 

This is an interesting one, and many surprise a few with some of the previous winners there have been in the Shoot Out. However, they all certainly know how to get towards the latter stages of events. This actually eliminates less of the remaining players than I though it might, but still saw Matthew Stevens and Jamie Cope among those leaving contention. 17 players remain. 

7. Despite no player ever being in the top 16 at the precise time of their win, only Robin Hull was lower than 39 at the start of the season in which he won the Shoot Out, and lower than 40 at the end of that season. 

Based on this trend, I have removed all players that started the 2017/2018 ranked lower than 39. This takes out Fergal O'Brien, Ken Doherty, Alfie Burden, Jimmy White, Andrew Higginson and Kurt Maflin.

Jack Lisowski started the season outside the top 40 but it already back inside the top 40 and is set to stay there until the end of the season so he remains on the list.

Peter Ebdon started the season inside the top 40 but has since well below this mark and is set to fall lower by the seasons end so has been removed from the list.


The top 10 Shoot Out contenders, based on these trends: 

- Mark King
- Joe Perry
- Ricky Walden
- David Gilbert
- Anthony Hamilton
- Alan McManus
- Ben Woollaston 
- Jimmy Robertson
- Jack Lisowski
- Mark Davis 



There's a nice mix in there of a few ranking winners like Hamilton, Walden, Perry, King who have a lot of experience and guys like Jimmy Robertson and Jack Lisowski who have had impressive seasons. Ben Woollaston and David Gilbert both have the potential, and Gilbert was of course left feeling very hard done by last year when he lost on the Sunday evening to Xiao Guodong.

Overall, it is very tough to pick one player and I think there are other players who may not have come through the full list of trends, but are players I had picked out long before putting this piece together. Mark Joyce is one who has had a great season, scores heavily and has the potential to win tournaments in the future based on what we have seen from him frequently this season. Meanwhile, Liam Highfield is someone else I have my eye on for this weekend. Another impressive scorer who doesn't necessarily hang around among the balls either, he has had some good results this year making the quarter-finals in India and beating a few top players in different events.

Hopefully that has provided a little insight into those who are hoping to find who the winner of this unpredictable tournament will be, but I'm sure there will be a lot of twists and turns before somebody is lifting the trophy on Sunday night.

Shoot Out Preview

No tournament divides opinion more among snooker players or snooker fans than the one-frame Shoot-Out that starts on Thursday.

Starting in 2011 it was initially just open to the top 64 in the world rankings and produced winners from Barry Hawkins and Martin Gould to Nigel Bond and Finland's Robin Hull in it's first six stagings.

Then in 2017 the controversial decision was made to have the Shoot-Out open to all 128 players on the tour and make it a full ranking event. Anthony McGill was the winner a year ago in Watford, defeating Xiao Guodong in the final and adding £32,000 to his ranking.

While players and fans alike disagreed with this change, when the players were given a vote shortly afterwards, the majority decided to keep the Shoot-Out on the calendar as a ranking event, rather than having it scrapped.

For those that are new to this event, the rules are fairly simple. Matches consist of one frame and this frame is to last no longer than 10 minutes. A shot clock is employed, giving players 15 seconds per shot in the first five minutes of the frame, and 10 seconds per shot in the second half of the frame.

Players must hit a cushion or pot a ball with every shot (thus preventing roll ups into the pack or rolling up behind a colour) and the punishment for this, a time foul or any other traditional snooker foul is to give the opponent "ball in hand".

This year the event will again be staged in Watford after it's move there last year, and it is also the final event before the one-year ranking list cut off for the World Grand Prix, with the top 32 going through to play in Preston in two weeks time.

As always the event is drawn randomly after each round, so here are how things look for the first round, with some very tasty ties:

First round draw: (In running order) 

Thursday afternoon session: (12pm start UK time)

Anthony McGill Vs Mark Davis
Mark Joyce Vs Alex Davies
Alan McManus Vs Ross Vallance
Ben Woollaston Vs Duane Jones
Ali Carter Vs Craig Steadman
Scott Donaldson Vs Yuan Sijun
Lu Haotian Vs Xu Si
Chen Zhe Vs David Lilley
Martin Gould Vs Ken Doherty
Peter Lines Vs Chen Zifan
Liam Highfield Vs Fang Xiongman
David Gilbert Vs Adam Duffy
Dominic Dale Vs Matthew Selt
Chris Wakelin Vs Billy Castle
Elliot Slessor Vs Sanderson Lam
Shaun Murphy Vs Barry Hawkins
Kuldesh Johal Vs Wang Yuchen
Ashley Hugill Vs Ben Jones
Mei Xiwen Vs Eden Sharav
Joe Perry Vs Hammad Miah
Allan Taylor Vs Ian Burns
Mark Williams Vs Li Hang
Christopher Keogan Vs Michael Williams
Mark King Vs Ashley Carty

Thursday evening session: (7pm start UK time) 

Stuart Bingham Vs James Silverwood
John Astley Vs Ross Muir
Chris Totten Vs Kurt Dunham
Noppon Saengkham Vs Paul Davison
Akani Songsermsawad Vs Robin Hull
Li Yuan Vs Basem Eltahhan
Rory McLeod Vs James Cahill
Jack Lisowski Vs Alexander Ursenbacher
Anthony Hamilton Vs Jimmy White
Xiao Guodong Vs David Grace
Hamza Akbar Vs Jamie Cope
Tian Pengfei Vs Wayne Brown
Sam Baird Vs Joe Swail
Zhang Anda Vs James Wattana
Stuart Carrington Vs Lee Walker
Leo Fernandez Vs Nigel Bond

Friday afternoon session: (12pm start UK time)

Robert Milkins Vs Alfie Burden
Michael Georgiou Vs Thor Chuan Leong
Daniel Wells Vs Alex Borg
Fergal O'Brien Vs William Lemons
Mike Dunn Vs David John
Kyren Wilson Vs Ricky Walden
Kurt Maflin Vs Jak Jones
Niu Zhuang Vs Sean O'Sullivan
Matthew Stevens Vs Zhao Xintong
Ian Preece Vs Oliver Brown
Jamie Jones Vs Lewis Roberts
Zhou Yuelong Vs Gerard Greene
Peter Ebdon Vs Soheil Vahedi
Zhang Yong Vs Jamie Barrett
Mitchell Mann Vs Martin O'Donnell
Yan Bingtao Vs Graeme Dott
Josh Boileau vs Daniel Ward
Gary Wilson Vs Lukas Kleckers
Michael White Vs Andrew Higginson
Oliver Lines Vs Cao Yupeng
Mark Allen Vs Tom Ford
Rod Lawler Vs Charlie Walters
Luca Brecel Vs Jimmy Robertson
Ryan Day Vs Michael Holt


Following Friday afternoon's play the random draw will be made for the last 64, with these matches following on Friday evening and Saturday evening. Sunday afternoon will then see the full list of last 32 matches, with the final four rounds then being played on Sunday evening.

The following players with professional tour cards have not entered the 2018 Shoot Out:

Mark Selby, Ronnie O'Sullivan, Judd Trump, Ding Junhui, John Higgins, Marco Fu, Neil Robertson, Liang Wenbo, Stephen Maguire, Yu De Lu, Thepchaiya Un-Nooh, Robbie Williams, Kritsanut Lertsattayatthorn, Boonyarit Kaettikun, Rhys Clark.

These non-entries mean there are a total of 12 non tour card holders in the tournament with an opportunity to shine. These players are: Alex Davies, Ross Vallance, David Lilley, William Lemons, Ben Jones, Michael Williams, James Cahill, James Silverwood, Jamie Cope, Ashley Carty, Daniel Ward, Charlie Walters.

Hopefully these players will add extra excitement to the event and be able to take inspiration from last year's top amateur player. Andy Hicks was not on the tour at the time but did not let that stop him from making it all the way to the semi-finals before his dream was ended by Xiao Guodong. In the quarter-finals Hicks overcame Steven Hallworth who was also playing in the event as an "amateur top-up".

THE BIG TIES 

All of these non-entries make last year's semi-finalist Shaun Murphy the number 1 ranked player in the competition, but he plays the number 2 ranked player and former champion Barry Hawkins in the most notable first round draw.

Defending champion Anthony McGill will kick the event off against Mark Davis, as he looks to become the first player ever to defend the title.

2013 winner Martin Gould faces Ken Doherty, while Dominic Dale the 2014 champion takes on Matthew Selt.

2016 winner Robin Hull kicks his campaign off on Thursday evening against Akani Songsermsawad, with the inaugural winner Nigel Bond closing out the first days play when he faces Leo Fernandez.

2015's champion Michael White has to wait until later on Friday afternoon before his return to the Shoot Out stage, where he will face Andrew Higginson.

Two time runner-up Xiao Guodong, the only man ever to make multiple finals, faces David Grace in round one, while there are also a number of other high seeded match ups in round one.

These include Kyren Wilson facing Ricky Walden, as well as Ryan Day facing Michael Holt for the fourth time in the events history, with Holt winning two of the previous three Shoot Out meetings. 18th seed Yan Bingtao faces 19th seed Graeme Dott in a battle between two players who have been runner-up to Mark Williams in ranking events this season.

Williams himself faces Li Hang in round one, with Li previously overcoming the Welshman to record his best ranking finish in this season's China Championship.

Elsewhere, Masters champion and former finalist Mark Allen faces Tom Ford, another runner-up and fifth seed Luca Brecel has the task of defeating Jimmy Robertson. Seventh seed Ali Carter will face up to Craig Steadman, and Stuart Bingham will make his return to a full tournament when he opens up Thursday evening's play against amateur James Silverwood.

THE MATHS 

When all is said and done, the winner of the tournament will collect the trophy and £32,000, with the runner-up receiving £16,000. Losing semi-finalists will receive £8,000 and £4,000 will go to the losing quarter-finalists. With last 64 losers only taking home £500, last 32 losers getting £1,000 and first round losers not adding to their ranking money tally, it is very much the case that players will need to make the latter stages on Sunday evening in order to make a move in the seedings lists.

Although, as the final event before the World Grand Prix cut off, there are still some significant moves that could be made. Everyone from current 29th placed Ricky Walden, who has a lead of over £7,000 on 33rd place Tom Ford, should be safely qualified for Preston. Stuart Bingham and Robert Milkins are then in joint 30th spot on £56,500, while the man right on the bubble in 32nd is Ben Woollaston with £53,500.

Tom Ford though is just £275 adrift of Woollaston and would only need to go one round further than him in the competition to make the jump up into the qualifying spots. Ford of course faces a tough task against Mark Allen in round one, while Ben Woollaston faces Duane Jones.

Zhou Yuelong is the next player with a chance, but realistically needs to make the quarter-finals, while the likes of Hossein Vafei and Kurt Maflin 36th and 37th would need to make the semi-finals to have any chance of making it in. Anyone one below that number would have to make the final, while it is mathematically possible for players as far down as Aditya Mehta in 78th if they win the tournament, depending on other results. Players from 68th and above would have a much better chance mathematically of making it in by winning the tournament, as the £32,000 would also see them leapfrog the figures that Stuart Bingham and Robert Milkins are currently on.


So whatever happens over the next few days in Watford, there are plenty of things to keep an eye on, and UK viewers can watch matters unfold on ITV4.

Graeme Dott and Mark Williams to contest German Masters final

Mark Williams and Graeme Dott will meet in the final of the German Masters in Berlin after dispatching Judd Trump and Shaun Murphy respectively in the semi-finals.

Dott is into this first full ranking event final since the 2010 World Championships and is now aiming for his first ranking title in 11 years after beating Murphy 6-4 in the afternoon semi-final. In a high quality contest, Dott took the upper hand early on moving 1-0 up after a break of 66 in the opening frame. Murphy hit back his match high break of 98 to level, but Dott was soon in front again with a run of 78.

The Magician again showed his scoring power with a 96 clearance to make it 2-2 at the mid-session interval, but Dott would take the lead for a third time with a break of 69 to move 3-2 up. Runs of 55 and 69 then helped Murphy to turn things around and lead for the first time at 4-3 and things were looking good in each of the next two frames before breaking down. A miss into the middle on 42 in the eighth was fully punished by the Scotsman who put together a fine 74 to square the match yet again at 4-4. Then in the ninth Murphy was in again on 52 before a poor positional shot let him down, and Dott was able to get and compile another brilliant break to clear and take the lead for the fourth time at 5-4. Sensing his moment, Dott did not hang around in getting the job done. Earning the first chance in the tenth he did not give the 2015 finalist another opportunity finishing the match in style with a magnificent 121 to clinch his spot in the German Masters final.

Williams meanwhile made light work of 2014 German Masters finalist Trump. Breaks of 68 and a fine 109 in the third frame helped the Welshman storm into a 3-0 lead against his fellow left-hander, who just could not get going and never looked like troubling the 2011 Berlin champion. A run of 51 in the fourth saw Trump at least get a frame on the board, but he could not get any closer in the remainder of the contest.

Openings certainly came and went for Trump thereafter, but he did not threaten the type of comeback that saw him lose from 5-2 up to Kyren Wilson in the Masters semi-finals. A high break of 51 from Williams in the sixth frame was the scoring highlight after the break as a second set of three successive frames put the reigning Northern Ireland Open champion into the final.


The Final: (Best-of-17 frames) 

Mark Williams Vs Graeme Dott


With Dott's comebacks and Williams floating through the draw in his typical easy style, this sets up to be a brilliant final on Sunday. Dott is without a ranking title in 11 years since winning the 2007 China Open and is in his first final for nearly 8 years. On the slide for a few years, there have been signs of improvement throughout the season from Dott reaching the last 16 of the China Championships, Shanghai Masters and then the UK Championships where he played superbly in defeating Judd Trump in the last 32.

The fact remains though that this is Dott's biggest match for some time, but he has been up for the fight all week. He could have easily been sent home on Thursday afternoon at the last 32 stage where he was 3-0 down to Barry Hawkins before winning 5-3. He then had to watch as his last 16 opponent Mei Xiwen came back from 4-1 to 4-4 before the Scot won the decider. Then of course there was the big quarter-final comeback from 4-0 down to see off Xiao Guodong 5-4, and he pulled off three straight frames in the semi-finals to beat Murphy 6-4. His scoring has been good and he is thriving again on the big stage, and at a venue where he had been a semi-finalist twice previously.

Williams meanwhile won his first ranking title since picking up the trophy at the Tempodrome in 2011 when he beat Yan Bingtao 9-8 in the Northern Ireland Open final. His season has been a picture of consistency, with this week seeing him make at least the quarter-finals for the seventh time this season in a ranking event, as well as making the quarter-finals of the Masters and winning the Six-Reds tournament in Thailand in September.

He is playing some of the best snooker he has in a long time, including a period in early 2015 where he seemed to be making the latter stages in every event he played at that time. Victory tomorrow would put the Welshman back up to seventh in the world rankings, which again is a measure of how well he has played this season when you consider that he did not feature at the Crucible last season. As well as this, victory tomorrow would put him second on the money list for this season, with just Ronnie O'Sullivan ahead of him.

Graeme Dott meanwhile would move up to 23rd in the world rankings with a win, but up as high as tenth on this season's money list where he is already 17th after this weeks run. The head to head between the two favours Williams, but make no mistake that Dott will take some beating here and even if there are some early nerves from him, he has already shown this week that he can recover from a poor start and is relishing being on the big stage again.


Whatever the outcome, this is sure to be a very entertaining clash and if it lives up to some of the finals that we have been treated to this season then it could be another blockbuster.

Shaun Murphy battles into German Masters semi-finals

Shaun Murphy is into the semi-finals after winning a mammoth match with Ryan Day that was decided on the final pink.

In the nine frames played of this tactical battle, there were only two breaks of above 50, the first of which was a 52 from Murphy in the opener - a frame he would eventually lose after Day came back from snookers required. However, Murphy won the second frame on the pink to equalise and then dominated the third to move 2-1 in front. Murphy had a couple of good chances in frame four to make it 3-1 at the break but a couple of misses from him left the door open for Day to level at 2-2.

The fifth frame was a long and tactical affair that would eventually go the way of Day, before Murphy dominated the sixth to level again at 3-3. The match high break came in frame seven when the Welshman compiled a superb break of 130 to move himself one up with two to play at 4-3. Murphy though was pretty dominant again in the eighth to take the match all the way.

The decider was a fantastic battle between both players. Lasting a total of 41 minutes, both players had their fair share of chances both early on and later on the colours. At different stages of the frame, both players had been warned after missing on two successive occasions when reds were visible, and the fact the final frame could have been conceded on the three miss rule at those two points only added to the drama. Eventually on the colours Murphy would knock in a magnificent yellow that looked like being a match winner, until overhitting position on the blue and subsequently the pink left his match ball a more difficult one. The miss into the middle would not cost him though with Day first missing the pink on a thin safety attempt, hitting it on the second attempt but going in-off to leave him needing snookers. A further foul a couple of shots later would see the Welshman concede and put a visibly relieved and exhausted Murphy into the semi-finals.


His opponent in the last four is comeback king Graeme Dott who came from 4-0 down to beat Xiao Guodong in a deciding frame that added further drama to quarter-finals night in Berlin. In the last 32, Dott came from 3-0 behind to defeat Barry Hawkins 5-3 but a round later he had to survive as Mei Xiwen came from 4-1 behind to force a decider so it has been a mixed route for Dott.

Dott had chances early on but breaks of 74 and 53 would help Xiao move into a 4-0 mid-session interval lead. Dott would get the fifth on the board without reply from his Chinese opponent, but soon found himself teetering on the edge as Xiao came close to victory with an early 62 break before Dott came back to force, and win a re-spotted black to make it 2-4. Xiao had early chances again in the next two frames but could not get the job done and when Dott took the seventh, he took the confidence from that to pile in the match high break of 85 and take the match all the way.

Again Xiao had chances in the decider, but it was Dott who would eventually get over the line on the colours and book a spot in his third German Masters semi-final.


Judd Trump came through the headline match of the evening against Ding Junhui. The highlight for Trump was making the new tournament high break in frame one with a superb 140. Ding took the next despite a 51 break from Trump, but the left-hander would then take the next two with some superb steals to move 3-1 ahead at the interval. A run of 57 in the fifth helped him to within one of the last four at 4-1.

In the sixth, he looked like easily clinching victory but went in-off on a break of 57 and Ding cleared to keep the match going. A scrappy seventh also went Ding's way to leave Trump fighting, and he was battling again in frame eight with the frame going down to the colours. However, he was able to win the exchange on the pink and move into the semi-finals.


Now, he will face an all left-handers battle with Mark Williams who has continued his brilliant form this season. He took on Jimmy Robertson in who was in his very first full-ranking quarter-final. Despite falling 2-0 behind to breaks of 57 and 89 from Williams, Robertson fought back and levelled at 2-2 with a run of 76.

Williams moved back in front at 3-2 but Robertson took the sixth without score from the Welshman to square it up again at 3-3. Williams reversed that by winning the seventh without score from Robertson, moving within one at 4-3. Both players had chances in the eighth but it was Williams who would win the battle on the final red and go on to clinch his place in the last four.


Quarter-final results: 

Mark Williams 5-3 Jimmy Robertson
Judd Trump 5-3 Ding Junhui
Shaun Murphy 5-4 Ryan Day
Graeme Dott 5-4 Xiao Guodong

Semi-final draw: (Picks in bold) 

Judd Trump Vs Mark Williams
Shaun Murphy Vs Graeme Dott


In the first semi-final, Shaun Murphy will meet Graeme Dott for the first time for nearly three and a half years. Their last meeting saw Dott win 5-3 at the last 16 stage of the Shanghai Masters. Murphy though has the lead 8-3 on the head to head but a lot of those games have gone close. In 2014 the pair met in the quarter-finals of the World Open, when Murphy fluked the final black to win 5-4 in a tournament he would go on to win. That was in a period of six matches in a row Murphy won against Dott.

Murphy is in fantastic form and aiming for his fifth final of the year, while Dott has needed 26 of a possible 27 frames to reach this stage but battled hard and come through against good opposition already. So, there is no reason why Dott cannot reach his first ranking final since the 2010 world championship, particularly if the match takes a similar style to Murphy's quarter-final with Day. Back on the TV table though  Murphy could well find the same sort of stride that led to comfortable wins over McManus and Joyce with some good scoring.


The evening semi-final looks like another mouth watering battle as Judd Trump faces Mark Williams. Trump leads the overall head to head 8-4 (outside of the Championship League) and has won their last three meetings. When you think of these two you may remember 2015 when these two met five times with Williams winning three of those, and he is playing better now than he was in that period.

The fact Williams won in Northern Ireland will give him a lot of confidence coming back to the latter stages and he knows that he is capable of beating Trump on his day. Trump has been in good form this week coming through three difficult matches and he will have a point to prove after losing from 5-2 up in the Masters semi-finals two weeks ago. An in-form Williams here is going to be very tough to beat, as Mark Selby found on in the first round of the Masters and Trump is going to need to play at his best in my view to get the job done here.


Whatever the outcome, these should be two fascinating matches over the best-of-11 frames and in the perfect setting now that we are down to the one table set-up at the Tempodrome in Berlin.

Ding Junhui and Judd Trump to meet in German Masters

Ding Junhui and Judd Trump will face off in the quarter-finals of the German Masters in what has the potential to be a blockbuster tie.

Both players came through well on Thursday evening in the last 16 with Ding seeing off Ricky Walden 5-2 while Trump took the final two frames to secure a 5-3 win over Joe Perry.

Ding was in fine form against Walden starting with a break of 54 to take the opening frame. Walden hit back strongly with a superb break of 102 but Ding followed in kind with an excellent 124 to regain his lead. Another Walden error left Ding in and a run of 75 made it 3-1 at the mid-session interval.

After the break, Walden showed that he wasn't going anywhere wading in with a contribution of 86 to stay in touch at 2-3. He could not keep in touch with Ding though he made a break of 69 to regain his two frame lead and move a frame from victory, and a break of 52 in the seventh helped Ding across the line.

Trump meanwhile had a tight tussle with Perry who took the opening frame with a run of 64 and had chances in the second and third frames before Trump took both to lead 2-1. A run of 54 then helped him into a 3-1 mid-session interval lead. Perry had a run of 68 in the fifth to stay in it and then saw off Trump's 55 in the sixth to take the frame on the colours and level at 3-3. Perry had a chance in the seventh but Trump was too strong and took the crucial 4-3 lead before finishing the match off by dominating the eighth and final frame.

Mark Williams is also into the quarter-finals, continuing his impressive form this season by making the last eight with a comfortable 5-2 win against Matthew Selt. Breaks of 65 and 70 were the highlights for Williams, while Selt had to come from behind to win the sixth frame and avoid a 5-1 loss but could not hold the Welshman off any further.

In the bottom half of the draw, Shaun Murphy was a comfortable winner 5-1 over Mark Joyce on Friday afternoon. Breaks of 59 and 90 saw him storm into an early 2-0 lead before Joyce got the third frame with a run of 73. Frame four was potentially the crucial one as Joyce built up a nice lead only for Murphy to hit back with a superb clearance and regain his two frame lead at 3-1. Following the mid-session interval, Murphy capitalised on Joyce's errors with a run of 65 taking the fifth frame before a run of 86 did the job in the final frame after a missed pink from Joyce.

Liang Wenbo's hopes of qualifying for the World Grand Prix have been ended after he lost out 5-2 in the all-Chinese last 16 match with Xiao Guodong. Xiao stormed into a 4-0 lead in the match aided by runs of 50, 60 and 62 along the way before he started to stutter. Chances came and went in both of the next two frames and Liang built an early 40 point lead in the seventh frame, but when his next chance came a good break of 75 got him over the line.

Ryan Day came through a deciding frame to clinch his spot in the last eight, despite two centuries from Mark Davis in a high quality affair. Davis opened up with breaks of 103 and 74 to lead 2-0 before Day went on a run of his own. Contributions of 54, 61 and a 115 were all part of a four frame winning streak that put the Welshman one away from victory at 4-2. Davis did not give up though, dominating the seventh frame and then making a 109 to force the decider. Day though got in front early in the decider and managed to hold off Davis to secure the win.

Last 16 results: 

Jimmy Robertson 5-3 Gary Wilson
Mark Williams 5-2 Matthew Selt
Ding Junhui 5-2 Ricky Walden
Judd Trump 5-3 Joe Perry
Ryan Day 5-4 Mark Davis
Shaun Murphy 5-1 Mark Joyce
Graeme Dott 5-4 Mei Xiwen 
Xiao Guodong 5-2 Liang Wenbo


Quarter-Final draw: (Picks in bold)

Mark Williams Vs Jimmy Robertson
Judd Trump Vs Ding Junhui 
Shaun Murphy Vs Ryan Day
Graeme Dott Vs Xiao Guodong


Jimmy Robertson is into his first ever full ranking event quarter-final as he takes on Mark Williams, but if he is to go any further he will need to turn around a poor head to head against the Welshman. Robertson has played Williams on four occasions but only picked up two frames. The way he is playing this season he should put up a better challenge here but there may also be some big game nerves here. Williams meanwhile is continuing his fantastic form at the moment and you certainly would not rule him out from winning a second ranking event of the season.

The blockbuster tie of the round is Judd Trump against Ding Junhui. The last two meetings between these two have been over longer formats (best-of-25 and best-of-17 frames) with Ding winning both of those. Trump looked very impressive in round one on the TV table against Ben Woollaston, but Ding looked equally as impressive in defeating Ricky Walden making very few mistakes. It really is a match that could need all nine frames to separate the pair, but if Ding plays as well as he did against Walden then Trump will not be able to make too many errors if he is to come out on the right side.

Shaun Murphy faces Ryan Day in another cracking match up. They recently met in the semi-finals of the UK Championship with Murphy winning 6-3 there in York, and he looks in great form again this week so far. He is the only player in the field to have played both his matches on the TV table which may give him a slight advantage here early on. With these players also playing twice on the day it is perhaps worth noting that Murphy needed three less frames to take care of his match against Joyce, while the Welshman went all nine frames with Mark Davis. Both guys are scoring well though and Day has been in good form too on the whole, aside from a defeat in China Open qualifying on Monday morning.

Finally, Graeme Dott will meet Xiao Guodong in what is a big match for both players in my view. Aside from the one-frame Shoot-Out, Xiao has not been in a ranking event semi-final since the 2013 Shanghai Masters where he was runner-up to Ding and therefore this presents a great opportunity for him. Dott's last ranking semi-final meanwhile was in this event two years ago and a victory here would put him into his third Tempodrome semi-final. These two met fairly recently, in November's Shanghai Masters with Dott winning 5-3 there, at a time when I fancied Xiao to win. Many will fancy the Chinese player again here after wins over Selby and Liang so far, but Dott himself has showed improved form this season and beaten Hawkins earlier this week. This is another match that looks like going all the way, which may well favour Dott and his great bottle to see him through.


The quarter-final matches all take place on Friday evening over the best-of-9 frames, before the tournament moves down to the one table set-up for Saturday's semi-finals.

World champion Mark Selby bows out of German Masters

2015 German Masters champion Mark Selby has been beaten at the last 32 stage of this year's competition, falling to Xiao Guodong for the second time this season.

After beating the world champion at the same stage of the English Open, Xiao was able to double the dosage with a 5-3 victory at the Tempodrome. Runs of 88, 80 and 52 saw Xiao move 3-1 ahead at the mid-session break and he could have moved further clear but a good clearance from Selby kept him in it at 2-3. Unfazed, a run of 79 put him one away at 4-2 before he eventually got over the line.

Defending champion Anthony Hamilton is also out of the tournament in the first match at the venue after being thrashed 5-1 by Jimmy Robertson. Hamilton had fought hard to qualify in December to defend his title fully at the Tempodrome in Berlin but he could go no further as Robertson comprehensively came through.

2016 champion Martin Gould is also out of the competition after losing 5-2 to Gary Wilson. Wilson missed the last red on 112 for a maximum break in the third frame of the match on the way to taking a 4-0 lead. Gould fought back to 2-4 and had a good lead in the seventh but Wilson came back and won the frame on the black to secure victory.

In the match of the round, Judd Trump saw off Ben Woollaston 5-3 with both players making two centuries in the eight frames played. Trump had breaks of 109 in the opener, 103 to move 4-3 ahead as well as a 94 in frame five, while Woollaston had a 114 in the second frame and a 104 in the sixth.

Former champion Mark Williams came through a tight match 5-3 against Fergal O'Brien and will now play Matthew Selt in the last 16 after Selt won a deciding frame to beat Masters champion Mark Allen. The recent major winner made a century to force the decider, but would later took to social media to express his views on how difficult it is to play on the outside tables at the Tempodrome, as well as stating that he will not play the tournament again until the issues are sorted.

There were no problems for 2014 winner Ding Junhui as he came through 5-3 against Michael Georgiou with a high break of 131, and he will now face Ricky Walden who secured a victory against Jack Lisowski by the same scoreline.

Shaun Murphy came from 2-0 behind early in his match with Alan McManus with five straight frames to win 5-2 and continue his challenge for the title. Murphy made the high break of the tournament so far with a 138 in the third frame as well as a second century of 104 in the fifth as he moved ahead in the match.

Barry Hawkins will now have to rely on a good performance in next week's Shoot-Out if he is to defend his World Grand Prix title in Preston. Despite cruising into a 3-0 lead against Graeme Dott, the 2006 world champion came back strongly with breaks of 81, 77 and 59 to put himself into the last 16 a 5-3 winner.

Liang Wenbo meanwhile kept his Grand Prix hopes alive with a 5-1 victory over Tom Ford, while Ford will now also have to do the business next weekend in Watford to climb into the top 32 on this season's money list.

Last 32 results: 

Jimmy Robertson 5-1 Anthony Hamilton
Gary Wilson 5-2 Martin Gould
Mark Williams 5-3 Fergal O'Brien
Matthew Selt 5-4 Mark Allen
Ding Junhui 5-3 Michael Georgiou
Ricky Walden 5-3 Jack Lisowski
Joe Perry 5-4 Yu De Lu
Judd Trump 5-3 Ben Woollaston
Mark Davis 5-2 Niu Zhuang
Ryan Day 5-1 Thepchaiya Un-Nooh
Mark Joyce 5-4 David Gilbert 
Shaun Murphy 5-2 Alan McManus
Mei Xiwen 5-1 Hammad Miah
Graeme Dott 5-3 Barry Hawkins
Liang Wenbo 5-1 Tom Ford
Xiao Guodong 5-3 Mark Selby

Last 16 draw: (Picks in bold)

Jimmy Robertson Vs Gary Wilson
Mark Williams Vs Matthew Selt
Ding Junhui Vs Ricky Walden
Judd Trump Vs Joe Perry
Ryan Day Vs Mark Davis
Shaun Murphy Vs Mark Joyce
Graeme Dott Vs Mei Xiwen 
Liang Wenbo Vs Xiao Guodong


The last 16 begins with the four matches in the top half of the draw featuring in Thursday evening's play, again over the best-of-9 frames.

Judd Trump will face Joe Perry after a sensational display to beat Woollaston on Wednesday evening. Perry meanwhile needed all nine frames to defeat Yu De Lu and his only break of above 50 in the contest was a 59 in the decider. If Trump plays as he did in round one then Perry will certainly need to up his scoring in order to give the left hander a challenge. The head to head record also favours Trump quite strongly and makes him a worthy favourite for the contest.

Ding Junhui takes on Ricky Walden, with Walden having the slight head to head edge between the two. Ding won the last two games, both of which were in China but he did not beat Walden by much in either game. The Chinese number 1's form is very patchy and with Walden's form improving all the time a good week could be in store for him here in Berlin.

Mark Williams will be looking to continue his pursuit of a second German Masters title as he plays giant killer Matthew Selt. Selt played well on Wednesday evening to defeat Mark Allen 5-4 in a high quality contest and if he continues performing like that then he will certainly give the Welshman something to think about. Williams meanwhile had a tough battle against Fergal O'Brien and he has been in good form of late so it will take a good performance to beat him this week.

Jimmy Robertson and Gary Wilson meanwhile is a big contest with a quarter-final place at stake. Robertson was by far the better player against Anthony Hamilton and thoroughly deserved to win. He has performed pretty consistently this season and it certainly would not be a surprise if he has a good run this week. Wilson saw off Gould by winning the three tight frames of the match in a game that looks as though it could easily have gone the other way. I could see this being a tense affair and one that needs all nine frames to separate the two players.


On Thursday afternoon, the bottom half of the draw takes centre stage. Ryan Day will be looking for a deep run this week as he looks to get back into the top 16 for the Crucible. His last 16 opponent Mark Davis has had a tough season so far and that may have looked like continuing when he was 2-0 down to Niu Zhuang. In the end the low ranked Chinese player could not keep it up and Davis came through, but he will need to play better if he is to beat Day who does have the better of their head to head and was a convincing winner over Thepchaiya Un-Nooh.

Shaun Murphy moved up through the gears on the way to his first round win against Alan McManus and he will need to be at top gear in the last 16 against in-form Mark Joyce. Joyce came through a very high quality match against David Gilbert that was full of high breaks from both players and he will be full of confidence after a run to the UK Championship quarter-finals. With the way both players are performing right now then you have to think this could be a very high scoring affair and a close encounter.

Graeme Dott and Mei Xiwen will meet for the second time in a week after meeting in the qualifiers for the China Open. Dott came out on top 6-2 on that occasion though there only other meeting saw Mei win 5-0 which balances things out slightly. Dott will be full of confidence after a great comeback win against Hawkins and he certainly has good form at this venue as a twice former semi-finalist. Mei overcame Hammad Miah in the last 32, opening up that contest with a 136 break and following it with a further two 70+ contributions. He will need to score heavily if he is to take charge of the match against Dott but his run in the Shanghai Masters earlier this season shows that he is capable of doing so.

Finally, there is an all-Chinese clash between Liang Wenbo and Xiao Guodong. Liang knows that he needs to play well this week to make it into the Grand Prix and he started off with a comfortable win over Tom Ford who is one of his rivals on that list. It has been a quiet season for the Chinese number 2 but the way that the bottom quarter has opened up he could certainly get on a big run this week and at least match his run to the semi-finals here from three years ago. Xiao will be full of confidence after beating Mark Selby and he too is scoring heavily and could have a major run this week in Berlin, making this a very tough match to call.


A fascinating line-up awaits for the remainder of the tournament with the quarter-finals following very quickly on Friday night, meaning the winners in the bottom half of the draw will be playing twice on the day at the Tempodrome.

German Masters Preview

One of the most anticipated stops on the tour arrives on Wednesday as the 32 players who made it through qualifying in December, will take to the Tempodrome in Berlin for the German Masters.

The first full ranking event of 2018 also presents the penultimate chance for players to make a move on the World Grand Prix qualification list, which concludes next week at the end of the Snooker Shoot-Out.

Among the qualifiers for Berlin are World number one Mark Selby, recent Masters champion Mark Allen, defending champion Anthony Hamilton and 2016 champion Martin Gould.

Top 16 seeds in Judd Trump, Ding Junhui, Shaun Murphy, Barry Hawkins, Mark Williams, Ryan Day and Liang Wenbo are also present in a strong field for the five days in Berlin with an increased £80,000 on offer for this year's champion.

Ronnie O'Sullivan withdraw from qualifying, while Scottish Open champion lost in the last 64 just prior to Christmas along with Masters runner-up Kyren Wilson and seeds 10, 11 and 13 in Luca Brecel, Ali Carter and Anthony McGill.

Quarter 1

Last 32 draw: (Picks in bold)

Anthony Hamilton Vs Jimmy Robertson 

Martin Gould Vs Gary Wilson

Mark Williams Vs Fergal O'Brien 

Mark Allen Vs Matthew Selt

The last two German Masters champions feature in the top quarter of the draw as well as reigning Northern Ireland Open champion Mark Williams and Masters champion Mark Allen. Williams played well to overcome Mark Selby in the Masters recently but he has a difficult draw with the possibility of facing the in-form Allen in the last 16. It's difficult to call that section given the form both Allen and Williams are in of late though with Allen on a high right now after his Masters win, I think more big runs and tournament wins could be on the horizon for him.

Meanwhile, defending champion Anthony Hamilton faces a tough tie against Jimmy Robertson. Robertson has had a decent campaign this season making the last 32 on a number of occasions, but not getting beyond that hurdle as often as he would like, so he will be keen to get past that stage here in Berlin. Hamilton has had a tough time of things this season. He withdrew from a number of matches earlier in the season because of his back, and that may have still been troubling him during first round exits in the UK Championships, Shanghai Masters and the first three home nations events. On Saturday, he had to come from 5-1 down to overcome low ranked David John 6-5 in China Open qualifying so he is clearly still struggling a little and with that in mind Robertson is more than capable of bring a premature end to Hamilton's title defence.

My first quarter choice though is the 2016 champion who made the semi-finals of his title defence last season. Martin Gould's form is really bubbling up nicely in the last few months. Just recently he made his first competitive 147 break in group 6 of the Championship League, which he also went on to win. Prior to the Christmas break he really hit top form making the quarter-finals of the UK Championship before running into Ronnie O'Sullivan, as well as making the Shanghai Masters quarter-finals and the semi-finals of the International Championship (where he lost to eventual winner Mark Selby). This form is not too dissimilar to the sort of form Gould was in when he came to the Tempodrome in 2016 and ended up walking away with his maiden ranking event win. You certainly would not be surprised to see Gould in the last eight given that section of the draw, and from there he could well pick up a second title. 

Best of the rest: Jimmy Robertson

Quarter choice: Martin Gould

Quarter 2

Last 32 draw: (Picks in bold) 

Ding Junhui Vs Michael Georgiou 

Ricky Walden Vs Jack Lisowski

Joe Perry Vs Yu De Lu

Judd Trump Vs Ben Woollaston 

Former champion Ding Junhui features in the second quarter, but his form is still very patchy after some of the eye trouble he had earlier in the season. His route through the qualifiers in December was not quite plain sailing, and he has only played once since - losing to Ryan Day in round one of the Masters. If he is not on top form in Berlin, Michael Georgiou could certainly take advantage and cause an upset.

Judd Trump is another of the headline acts in this second section and he will be looking to bounce back from a couple of recent setbacks. After losing from 5-2 ahead against Kyren Wilson in the Masters semi-finals he then lost 6-5 to Jak Jones in the China Open qualifiers. His first round opponent Ben Woollaston has beaten Shaun Murphy and Neil Robertson in the last two years at this stage of the competition so there is no reason why he cannot do it a third time this year.

Joe Perry showed some decent form just prior to Christmas making the last 16 of the Northern Ireland Open and the quarter-finals of the UK Championship. Given that some of the other players in this section are not in the best of form, Perry could be the one to take advantage and have a deep run in this competition, as he is certainly still good enough to get back into the top 16.

My second quarter choice is another player who will be looking to get back into the top 16. Ricky Walden has started coming back to form in recent tournaments. Just before Christmas he made the quarter-finals of the Scottish Open and the last 16 of the UK Championships before losing to the runner-up in both tournaments. Walden's first round opponent Jack Lisowski is certainly a tough one, but somebody that Walden overcame at the last 64 stage in Northern Ireland just after Lisowski's career best run to the semi-finals in the Shanghai Masters. In the recent Championship League Walden reached the final of Group 5 and the semi-final in Group 6 so he should be sharp as well coming into this one and that may play in Walden's hands in the first couple of rounds here. Like Perry, he is far better than his current ranking and is more than capable of having a big week that could propel him back towards the top 16. 

Best of the rest: Joe Perry

Quarter choice: Ricky Walden

Quarter 3

Last 32 draw: (Picks in bold) 

Mark Davis Vs Niu Zhuang

Ryan Day Vs Thepchaiya Un-Nooh

David Gilbert Vs Mark Joyce

Shaun Murphy Vs Alan McManus

Quarter three is one that has already seen a couple of top 16 casualties with Ali Carter losing in the qualifiers in December and Ronnie O'Sullivan withdrawing from those matches. That has opened the door for someone like Mark Davis who is looking to boost what has been an average season for him. This is the furthest he has been in any tournament since beating John Higgins to make the last 16 of the European Masters nearly four months ago, with a number of first round exits coming in the time since.

Ryan Day will be eyeing a big week here to make strides towards getting back into the top 16 in the provisional Crucible seedings list, especially after taking a hit on Monday morning. Losing 6-3 to Lu Haotian in China Open qualifying means his destiny is out of his hands and that he will have to recover the deficit before Beijing. His first round opponent Thepchaiya Un-Nooh looked in good form in his China Open qualifier, and is someone that is more than capable of not only beating Day, but having a big run into the latter stages of this competition. However, the one thing that he does not seem to have is the consistency in his game, often going from top gear in one match to reverse in the next.

David Gilbert against Mark Joyce is one of the toughest first round matches to call and the head-to-head does not offer a great deal to help either. They have played each other twice this season, with Gilbert winning 5-0 in Shanghai before Joyce won 6-4 at the UK Championships. It has to be said that Joyce has looked in the better form of the two recently. He could easily have made the semi-finals of the UK Championship as well as making the last 16 at the International Championship and the quarter-finals of the Paul Hunter Classic. Gilbert meanwhile only managed one win from six matches and was relegated from the Championship League recently in the first group he entered. He also fell in the first round of the Scottish Open as well as suffering a few last 64 exits prior to Christmas.

The stand out name in this quarter though is Shaun Murphy. The Magician has made four finals this season already, including one in Germany at the Paul Hunter Classic and as a finalist here in 2015 he will be keen to go one better as he returns to the Tempodrome. Murphy was unlucky to fall in a tight Masters quarter-final to Trump, otherwise he could well have made final number 5 of the season at the Ally Pally. With the form he has shown in making the final of the UK and winning the Champion of Champions you have to think that there could be more finals to come between now and the seasons end a possibly another trophy or two. His draw is tricky but he would not have to play someone seeded in the top 16 until at least the quarter-finals and maybe even the semi-finals, should he make it through the early rounds. Looking at the line-up for this week Murphy is certainly a top contender for the title. 

Best of the rest: Mark Davis

Quarter choice: Shaun Murphy

Quarter 4

Last 32 draw: (Picks in bold) 

Barry Hawkins Vs Graeme Dott

Mei Xiwen Vs Hammad Miah

Liang Wenbo Vs Tom Ford

Mark Selby Vs Xiao Guodong

The bottom quarter is where we find World Champion and 2015 German Master Mark Selby. The world number one has been pretty quiet since winning the International Championship at the start of November however. Early exits in the UK Championship and Masters as well as not appearing in Scotland or Northern Ireland mean that Selby has not played huge amounts either, and should be pretty fresh coming to Berlin. His first round opponent Xiao Guodong is more than capable of an upset, as Selby found out in the last 32 of the English Open, where Xiao came out on top 4-1. As well as that the former ranking finalist reached the Scottish Open quarter-finals before losing 5-4 to eventual winner Neil Robertson, having already beaten Marco Fu along the way that week. He also reached the last 16 of the UK Championships and overcame Ali Carter to score another top 16 scalp in Belfast. If Xiao keeps up this form, we certainly have a cracking match to look forward to there and the winner could easily go deep into the tournament.

Barry Hawkins against Graeme Dott is another intriguing round one tie. Hawkins has been in poor form this season, and on Monday evening he had to recover from 3-0 down just to qualify for the China Open. He did not do a lot wrong in the first round of the Masters, losing 6-4 to the eventual runner-up, though he did also lose in round in Glasgow and Belfast, as well as suffering a shock 6-0 exit in the last 32 of the UK Championships. Dott meanwhile has had a couple of decent runs, showing he can still do it on the big stage by thrashing Trump in the UK Championships, as well as reaching the last 16 in Shanghai and the China Championships. Dott is a twice semi-finalist at the Tempodrome, most recently in 2016 - beating Hawkins along the way - and his record here is hardly a surprise as he still relishes playing in the big matches against top players.

Mei Xiwen versus Hammad Miah is a rather unexpected last 32 tie, with Mei coming through December's qualifiers for the loss of just two frames against Michael Holt and Robbie Williams, while Hammad saw off Luca Brecel and Zhao Xintong. With both players currently chasing the top 64, (or at least the top eight on the one-year money list not already qualified for the 2018/2019) in order to stay on tour so this could be a big week for both players.

My final quarter selection though is another player who needs a big week, as he targets a place in the upcoming World Grand Prix. Liang Wenbo is currently two spots outside on the qualifying list and needs to make at least the quarter-finals in Berlin, as he has not entered the Shoot-Out - which is the final event to qualify for Preston. An average season from Liang and a few early season non-entries has left Liang in this situation and he faces someone in Tom Ford in the last 32 who is also chasing a Grand Prix place. Again Ford could do with making the quarter-finals to put himself in pole position to be heading to Preston. The last two times these two have played it has gone the distance, most recently in the English Open when Ford led 3-1 before Liang came back to 4-3 as well as making a 147 break along the way. If this sort of heavy scoring (Liang also had the highest break in the Masters despite losing in round one) makes an appearance in Berlin, then he could repeat or even better his best run here, making the semi-finals in 2015. 

Best of the rest: Graeme Dott

Quarter choice: Liang Wenbo

Tournament winner selection: Shaun Murphy

The event will be covered on Eurosport TV and Eurosport Player once again and with plenty of top stars involved it should be a fascinating five days of action in Berlin.