German Masters Preview

Wednesday sees the start of one of my favourite tournaments on the snooker calendar these days with the start of the German Masters at the Tempodrome in Berlin. Why do I and many other fans and players love this event so much? Well firstly, the arena is massive and with the set-up of the tables the fans can see all of the tables at once, which was 5 in the previous years, but it will be 8 for the early stages of this event this time around. Watching at home and for the players, there always seems to be a great atmosphere, with the fantastic German supporters supporting the event superbly from start to finish. This is also the first ranking event of 2014 and it's also a very quick fire event with all the player from the Last 64 down to the final, packed into five thrilling days of snooker from Wednesday to Sunday.




So, then lets have a look at what top quality action we can look forward to this week, and some of the implications that may have on the battle for tour survival down the rankings list:

Quarter 1:

Last 64 Draw: (My picks in bold)


Ali Carter Vs Dechawat Poomjaeng
Jimmy White Vs Xiao Guodong
Ratchayothin Yotharuck Vs Jamie Burnett
Aditya Mehta Vs Joel Walker
Stuart Bingham Vs Peter Lines
Anthony Hamilton Vs Michael White
Ryan Day Vs Cao Xin Long
Li Hang Vs Barry Hawkins




This quarter isn't exactly littered with top players, but there are plenty of great players in this section that can do plenty of damage in this event and go on to win the whole thing. In this section we have defending champion Ali Carter, UK semi-finalist Stuart Bingham, 2013 World finalist Barry Hawkins, and there are also guys like Shanghai Masters runner-up Xiao Guodong, Ryan Day and Michael White that could all go on a run in Berlin this week. Meanwhile the likes of Peter Lines, Jimmy White and Joel Walker could all do with decent runs this week to try and boost their money rankings, although Lines and Jimmy are currently inside the Top 64, they could certainly do with wins to increase the gap between themselves and the guys below the 64 line. As for Walker you have to say that he would need a miracle to hold onto his tour card via the end of season money list, though he is very well placed on the current European PTC Order of Merit to pick up a new tour card for next season, with just 1 event to go in Poland in early February. However, with the Last 64 matches that these 3 face, it is very hard to see any of them progressing any further in Berlin, but you never know.




In terms of the quarter winner, Ali Carter has not had the best year that has once again been hit by illness, and it would be really good to see him go well this week and cue well, and looking at his draw I have to think he is in a fairly favourable position to at least make the quarter-finals. Meanwhile, Stuart Bingham didn't quite look himself at The Masters for whatever reason, and I hope that he can a way to get back to the way he was playing in the UK Championships where he was quite simply superb. Barry Hawkins hasn't had the best year to date either, and after a poor show in the latter stages of his first round loss at The Masters, you have to say that there aren't really any signs that say he will be nearing the form he showed at last years World Championships this coming week.




Quarter Winner: I have to say it would be nice to see Ali Carter win this one and there is no good reason to tell me why he can't.

Quarter 2

Last 64 Draw: (My picks in bold)


Ding Junhui Vs Mike Dunn
David Morris Vs Mark Williams
Dominic Dale Vs Steve Davis
Gerard Greene Vs John Higgins
Mark Allen Vs Anthony McGill
Luca Brecel Vs Joe Perry
Tom Ford Vs Kurt Maflin
Jimmy Robertson Vs Mark Selby




This quarter is absolutely jam-packed full of top players that could all go and win the event, never mind the quarter. Guys like Ding Junhui, Mark Selby, Mark Allen, John Higgins, Joe Perry and Mark Williams are all very tough to beat on their respective days. Meanwhile, looking further down the rankings, there are important matches for the likes of Luca Brecel, Mike Dunn, Steve Davis and Gerard Greene who will all looking to pick up vital wins with Gerard Greene, Steve Davis hovering just above the Top 64 line, while Luca is sat in 65th place, but will move into 64th place with Stephen Lee not looking like playing anymore matches this season. As for Mike, he is around £3000 off of the pace this week, and with a very tough opening round draw against Ding Junhui it doesn't look like he'll be adding to that tally this week. Luca has an equally tricky match against Joe Perry in the Last 64, while Greene faces John Higgins and Steve Davis faces Dominic Dale, so as good as all 3 of them are they face very tough matches indeed if they are to put themselves further clear of the ranking relegation zone.




In terms of picking a quarter winner, it is a very tough little section to try and predict, but as always i'll give it my best and hope for something better than total failure. Ding Junhui has to be one of the heavy favourites, despite a poor showing at The Masters, having won 3 ranking events already this season. 2 weeks off since his Masters exit would have done him good after a relaxing Christmas to get back into his full practice routine and be fully prepared for a deep run at the Tempodrome. Mark Selby also has a good shout at winning this section after his little Winter burst has come into effect again with final appearances at the UK Championships and the more recent Masters where Ronnie O'Sullivan ran riot. Mark still has played as well on a consistent basis as he would like, and we know he can and it must be immensely frustrating for a man of his talent to only show his best a few times a year, and on that basis you have to say he will struggle to beat some of the guys lining up in this quarter. The likes of Mark Allen and John Higgins have again showed glimpses of their best so far this season, but they haven't showed it consistently enough in the big events, but maybe this could be the week for one of them to come through. However, if it's consistency you want there is only one winner of this quarter.




Quarter Winner: Ding Junhui to make up for a disappointing display at The Masters.

Quarter 3

Last 64 Draw: (My picks in bold)
Neil Robertson Vs Liu Chuang
Tian Pengfei Vs Andrew Higginson
Marcus Campbell Vs Rod Lawler
Paul Davison Vs Marco Fu
Mark Davis Vs David Gilbert
Ben Woollaston Vs Graeme Dott
Liang Wenbo Vs Cao Yupeng
Mark Joyce Vs Stephen Maguire




Once again here we have a quarter here that is full of great players that could easily go on and win the tournament. The likes of century machine Neil Robertson, Stephen Maguire, Marco Fu, Graeme Dott and Mark Davis are all top quality talents and can make this quarter very difficult for each other. Lower down the ranking lists, the provisional end of season money list shows that guys like Tian Pengfei, Liu Chuang and Paul Davison are all in big trouble, needing long runs at some point between now and the end of the season to make up the big gap between themselves and the top 64 tour relegation line. However, the 3 of those having tough draws against Andrew Higginson, Neil Robertson and Marco Fu, it is highly unlikely that they will be able to gain too much money, if any at all to help their survival causes next week.




Back to the top then, and thinking of a winner of this section you have to say there are plenty of players here that could easily run through and win the quarter on their day. You have to start with Neil Robertson, or the ton machine as he will soon be known, having made 77 centuries so far this season with 2 months to go, and 100 for the season well within his sights. Since winning the UK Championship title at the back end of 2013 he hasn't quite looked himself yet in the early stages of 2014 with poor performances, particularly at The Masters, and he seemed to lack a little bit of consistency in groups 3 and 4 of the Championship League last week, but if he can sort that out there's no reason why he couldn't add to his ranking event tally. Stephen Maguire is another great contender for this title, never mind the quarter as a whole, having put in some much better performances at the start of 2014, after working hard at his game over Christmas, making the semi-finals of The Masters and winning Group 4 of the Championship League at Crondon Park last week, and having made the final here 2 years ago, he'll certainly fancy his chances of going one step further this time around. Marco Fu is the other big contender to win this quarter, and again he has played well this season, winning the Australian Open and making the final of the International Championship. However, he showed some of his old consistencies by being by amateur Mitchell Travis at the Last 128 stage of the UK Championship and again at The Masters when he threw away a 4-1 lead to lose 6-4 in the Quarter-finals to Shaun Murphy.




Quarter Winner: With his recent turnaround in form post-Christmas I fancy Stephen Maguire to win this one.

Quarter 4

Last 64 Draw: (My picks in bold)
Judd Trump Vs Noppon Saengkham
Dave Harold Vs Mark King
Matthew Stevens Vs Fergal O'Brien
Shaun Murphy Vs Ken Doherty
Gary Wilson Vs Daniel Wells
Jamie O'Neill Vs Michael Holt
Peter Ebdon Vs Alan McManus
Jack Lisowski Vs Thepchaiya Un-Nooh




This quarter doesn't have as many top players as some of the other top quarters, with 2nd seed Ronnie O'Sullivan losing to Thepchaiya Un-Nooh and Ricky Walden losing to 147 man Gary Wilson in the Last 128 stage which was played at the Barnsley Metrodome in mid-December. However, former world Champions Shaun Murphy and Peter Ebdon along with former UK Champion Judd Trump and former Masters champion Matthew Stevens line up in this section, along with young gun Jack Lisowski and former top 16 player Mark King who all have the capabilities of coming out on top in this section. Nearer the bottom end of the rankings, Thepchaiya Un-Nooh, Daniel Wells and Jamie O'Neill all need wins this week if they are to survive tour relegation. Thepchaiya has the most realistic survival chance, being only around £2000 behind the top 64, and if he can get a win against Jack Lisowski in the Last 64 this week he'll be in a much better position. As for Daniel Wells and Jamie O'Neill, they have little or no chance of staying on the tour this year, and with tough first round matches against Gary Wilson and Michael Holt it won't get any easier for them.


As for the quarter winner, Judd Trump will be someone that is right at the top of that list despite his poor season so far. The best performance Judd seems to have had this season was his win in group 3 of the Championship League last week, because apart from that he's not made it past the Last 16 in a big event since last seasons World Championship. However, his form has looked like it may turn up a couple of times this season, and it hasn't really happened for him, so there are certainly no guarantees. Another player that has not had the best season on tour is Shaun Murphy who's season highlight was his recent semi-final appearance at The Masters, because apart from that he hasn't made it past the Last 16 in a full ranking event. However, I know he has been working very very hard at his game, and on himself and he is feeling very good, and he mentioned in our latest Q&A that he loves the Tempodrome and the German Masters, and would love to win it one day for his German fans. He made a 147 in group 2 of the Championship League and did look to be cueing well in groups 3 and 4 and in parts of his Masters campaign. You have to say though, that Judd and Shaun, who are due to meet in the Last 16 of this event, if they could re-discover their best form, they have to be contenders for the title next weekend.


Quarter Winner: I'm going to go for Shaun Murphy who seems to be cueing slightly better since the New Year.


Tournament Runner-up: Stephen Maguire


Tournament Winner: Ding Junhui


Whether my tips are any good is one thing you should certainly be unsure of, but what we do know is that with cramming the Last 64 to the final into 5 days that we are going to have a snooker feast, with what are sure to be 5 superb days of snooker from Wednesday-Sunday this week, at the wonderful Tempodrome venue in Berlin. I just hope now that one of my favourite events on the calendar can live up to my big billing and provide another enjoyable event this season.

Masters Q&A with SHAUN MURPHY

It's that time of the year again as Masters fever has hit the snooker nation, and one of the guys hoping to take the prestigious title next Sunday is Shaun Murphy who kindly took some time out from his heavy preparations to answer a few questions I had for him on The Masters, a busy period between now and the end of February, his start to the season and his recent weight loss.


Here's what Shaun had to say:

Where do you rank the Masters event on the calendar in comparison to the rest of the calendar?

For me The Masters was always the third major behind the UK's and the World Championship. But now with the increase in prize money and the upcoming switch to a money list, I think it's now the second biggest event of our calendar.

How hard are you working to try and win The Masters this time around and complete the Triple Crown, and how do you rate your chances?

Completing my triple crown of BBC events will be top of my priority list until I achieve it so I've been working really hard on my game over the festive period to try to make sure I get to Ally Pally in good form.

You have Ding Junhui in the first round this year, who since winning The Masters in 2011, hasn’t won a Masters match in 2 years since, how are you looking to approach this match knowing what Ding is capable of, and what are you expecting on the day?

Well as you rightly say, Ding has already won this tournament before and so doesn't have anything to prove there. Mid way through this season he was looking unbeatable and our game in Shanghai was a high quality match. Of course in snooker all I can focus on is my one game and that's what I'll be doing down there.

Where does the Ally Pally sit for you as a Masters snooker venue, and is the feeling shared by the other players?

I'm pretty sure that anyone that played at the old Conference Centre would say that it was the best venue of them all, but the Ally Pally is definitely a close second and 100% better than the Wembley Arena we played in for a few years. Although it was pretty cool knowing that Kylie had used the same dressing rooms the week before!

Neil Robertson has been your Masters nemesis the past 2 years, and after being the first overseas player to complete the Triple Crown in December, do you think he’ll be the man to beat again this year?

Neil along with Mark Selby have now in my opinion made themselves so consistent that I think they are always the ones to beat nowadays. Mark in particular has found a way of being able to win when he's not at his best and as Steve Davis once said, that's what sport is all about.

The Masters is one of the tournaments these days with a longer format, do you prefer the long format and would you like to see more tournaments for the elite players with the longer format?

It's a funny sign of the times when we start calling best of 11's a long format as it isn't really. I just think now that most of the tour have adapted to all the match lengths and just get on with it. I think in general people like the fact that they will definitely have a result at the end of play. Nothing frustrates me more when watching sport than not having a result.

The shoot-out follows the Masters in late January, what do you make of that event and is it nice to see some of these types of events on the calendar?

I really like the Shoot Out. It's a completely different event than any other we see on tour all year and it's refreshing. I do think though that for Snooker to thrive in todays world like a few other sports are doing, certain things have to change and some of the things we see at the Shoot Out need to filter through into "normal" snooker. Certainly a lot of purists won't like it, but the paying public are the ones that part with their cash to come and watch us and I think what they want, they should get.

The German Masters at the Tempodrome in Berlin in early February is another event you have a nice record in, how nice would it be to win an event in a venue you rate so highly and do the surroundings inspire you to do well?

Well it's an event very close to my heart as I was lucky enough to be involved in the promotion of snooker through the mid naughties in places like Germany and other European countries that are now taking snooker to heart and it's really nice to see these events doing so well. I've played many exhibition events in the Tempodrome and have always had great support in Germany that I'm very thankful for, so for them more than me I'd like to have a good run there one day and who knows maybe one day lift the title.

Also in early February is the final EPTC event in Gdynia, and with you currently sat in the 24th and final qualifying spot, how desperate are you to have a good run in Poland to make it back to the PTC Finals for the first time since you won it, and would you consider entering the final APTC if you don’t qualify via the European Order of Merit?

Yeah qualifying for the Tour finals is definitely something I'm trying to do but as always, all I can do is my best and not worry too much about other results and other players. If I play well enough I'm sure I'll get through. If not then entering the final APTC is something I'll definitely be looking at as like I say, getting to the tour finals is a real goal of mine. To win it in year one and then not go back for two years has been hard but I'm trying my best to get there this year.

A hectic January/February period culminates in the Welsh Open, where you have lost in Round 1 in 3 of the last 4 seasons, so how much will you be trying to put that right?

The Welsh Open has not been one of my strongest events that's for sure. I think I got to the final in '06 but since then it's been a tough event for me. Not really sure why but I'll be going this year trying my best as always and trying to put in a good performance and see what happens.

While not playing poorly in the first half of the season, you have been on a pretty poor run of form. So, what aspects of your game in particular are you working on to try and have a better second half of the season and what are your goals for this period?

It's been a really weird season for me so far. I've worked so hard on my game and myself away from the table and so far haven't seen any rewards for it. But I know that if you do the right things for long enough, then eventually you get the rewards for your hard work.

What is your view on the Championship League event as a whole, and do you think that it can provide good match practice for the big events?

When it first started I think a few of the lads saw it as a bit of a knockabout but it's definitely more than that now. For me especially I'm going to use it as an opportunity to try out some of the things I've been working on and hopefully play myself into some good form just before The Masters, so I think it's a great event.

Do you think that tournaments like The Masters really set the men from the boys in terms of the general standard of play, but also the guys that work hard over the Christmas break with the ones that don’t?

I think if The Masters was in the first week of January then you'd really get a taste for who had been playing over Christmas and those that hadn't. With it starting on the 12th and the Championship league being played before it too I think most players will arrive ready for action. It is after all the second biggest event in our game so not being prepared would be a bit silly really.

A lot of people have been commenting on your recent weight loss, and want to know how much you’ve lost, and what made you decide to start losing weight, so could you enlighten the fans?

I just got to a point in my life where I wanted to be better, in all areas. My diet's always been terrible and so I spoke with some close friends about it and they put together a really good health eating plan for me which I've followed and since starting on August 12th last year I've lost nearly three stone. They told me that weight loss is 80% diet and 20% exercise, something I'd not thought about before and they were right. Anyone who wants to know more about it can contact me on Twitter @magician147 or through my website www.shaunmurphy.net

Just to finish off, as we enter the new year what was your favourite moment of 2013, and what are your hopes for 2014?

I actually always look back at my Massé attempt against Ding in Shanghai as one of my funniest moments of 2013, it certainly couldn't have gone any worse could it? As for 2014 I'm going to continue working on my game and getting better and fitter and I'll see where that takes me. Obviously I'm trying to win every event I play in but that hasn't happened yet.............................yet.

Thanks to Shaun once again for giving some good views and insight on a range of things there. I'd like to wish him and the rest of the players good luck for The Masters, and I for one hope to see Murphy back in the winners enclosure very soon.

The Masters Preview

It's that time of the year again, for one of the most prestigious events of the season, as the 16 best players in the world arrive at the Alexandra Palace in London for The Masters starting on Sunday. This event has produced many a classic match in it's time, which is always likely to happen when the best players in the world head-to-head, and I have to say that the Alexandra Palace is another top snooker venue and that The Masters is definetly one of my favourite events on the snooker calendar. Looking at the draw just for the opening round you can see that there are going to be plenty of good matches, even before we reach the latter stages.




Let's have a look at what we can expect at the Ally Pally next week:

Quarter 1

Last 16 Draw (All times UK)
Mark Selby Vs Mark Davis - Sunday 12th January 1pm
Stuart Bingham Vs John Higgins - Sunday 12th January 7pm




So the top half of the draw sees two Masters champions and two other guys who don't perhaps have the best Masters records. Firstly, the 3 times and defending Masters champion Mark Selby is certainly going to be one of the main contenders this week given his brilliant record and return to form, as he reached the final of the UK Championships making a 147 in the semi-final as he fell at the final hurdle as he tried to defend his title. Generally he seemed to be playing better that week and he looked a lot more confident as well. As for Mark Davis his season has been a fairly shaky one, and he will very much need to improve if he is to have any chance in his opening fixture against Selby, and with no disrespect to Davis I can only really see one winner here unless Davis improves the form that's seen him only make 2 ranking quarter-finals all season and not generally play great snooker.


The other contest in this quarter is an incredibly tough one to call with John Higgins struggling for form since the very early stages of the season, but we all know what he's capable of if he can get back to his very best. Meanwhile, Stuart Bingham had a great back end to 2013 reaching a UK semi-final and making the final of the Champion of Champions event. It has to be said that Bingham has to be one of the most improved players of the last 2 years and the fact that he is now in the top eight in the world is evidence of this in itself. However, he looked fairly shaky at the Championship League where he was relegated in  group 1 after only 1 win, and throwing away a few good leads. It just highlighted that although you would make Bingham the favourite that if Higgins can bring out his A game for this one then he will have a great chance of victory.




Quarter Winner: Mark Selby to beat Mark Davis and then John Higgins to make the semi-finals in my opinion

Quarter 2

Last 16 Draw (All times UK):
Judd Trump Vs Marco Fu - Monday 13th January 2pm
Ding Junhui Vs Shaun Murphy - Tuesday 14th January 2pm




This for me is the best quarter of the draw with a former Masters champion and two former runners-up as well as 3 of the players being former UK Champions. It has to be said first off that Judd Trump and Shaun Murphy have both had poor runs of form this season with both players only being able to boast best ranking event performances of the Last 16 in the UK Championship. However, one thing we know about both these men is that they are certainly crowd pleasers. Trump especially loves entertaining the big crowds at the big events with his brand of snooker, and Shaun was saying to me the other day that he thinks he's one of those players that needs a big crowd to perform well. At the end of the day, it doesn't get any bigger than the one table set-up of The Masters.




Marco Fu and Ding Junhui meanwhile have had a brilliant season, with Ding Junhui winning 3 ranking events on the trot, while Fu won the Australian Open and reached the International Championship final. However, neither of these two were at their best in the UK Championships with Fu showing some of his old inconsistencies and Ding Junhui looking tired after a long first half of the season for him. Ding Junhui has said ahead of this tournament that he's had a nice 3 week rest back home in China, and with 2 first round exits in the last 2 years at The Masters it will be interesting to see how much work Ding Junhui has put in ahead of this years campaign. As for Fu, Judd Trump is going to be a very tough opponent for him with Judd finding some form this week at Crondon Park making both of the first two Championship league group finals. As for Ding Junhui against Shaun Murphy, I think that people have been incredibly quick to write Shaun Murphy off for this one, and may have changed their minds after seeing his group 2 performances in the CL this week. Shaun made a 147 on Wednesday and this seemed to give him a huge boost of confidence after probably the lowest point of his season came on Tuesday in group one with him looking very frustrated. It's no secret that Murphy has certainly been putting lot's of work in, on and off of the table getting both his game and himself into shape. It may sound weird but the 147 maybe the turning point of his season and could prove to be the huge confidence boost he needed, but I don't think it will be enough for him to win the event this week.




Quarter Winner: Judd Trump to beat Marco Fu and then Shaun Murphy

Quarter 3

Last 16 draw (all times UK):
Neil Robertson Vs Mark Allen - Wednesday 15th January 1pm
Stephen Maguire Vs Joe Perry - Monday 13th January 7pm




This quarter sees two quality first round matches involving a former Masters champion and current UK champion and a former UK champion, but most importantly 4 guys with loads of big match experience. Firstly, ton machine Neil Robertson meets Mark Allen for the 4th year in a row at The Masters, with Neil winning the last 2 of the 3 previous matches. You have to make Neil a firm favourite again, as he is playing the best snooker in the world right now, and after winning the UK Championship in December you'd be an idiot to think he couldn't win this title for a second time. As for Mark Allen he has had a decent season so far, playing some very good snooker in parts, but his best snooker has only really appeared in the European Tour events, and if he can transfer this to The Masters next week he has every chance of a good run, however it will be another big ask against a very in-form Neil Robertson.




The other last 16 match of this quarter sees Stephen Maguire take on recent CL group 2 winner Joe Perry. Joe Perry has had a very good season so far, with an International Championship semi-final to his name and he just reminded us of his good form in that Championship League group 2 where he only lost one match, which was a 3-0 loss to Robertson who made 3 centuries in the match. Stephen Maguire meanwhile, has not quite been at his consistent best, missing the start of the season before only making an Indian Open semi-final and a UK quarter-final to balance out some early exits. For me, Perry has certainly been the more consistent player this season so far, with some very good performances so far making him a favourite with me for this match.




Quarter Winner: Neil Robertson to beat Mark Allen and then Joe Perry

Quarter 4

Last 16 Draw (all times UK):
Barry Hawkins Vs Ricky Walden - Wednesday 15th January 7pm
Ronnie O'Sullivan Vs Robert Milkins - Tuesday 14th January 7pm




The final quarter of the draw sees the defending world Champion join, the 2013 World Championship runner-up and a 2013 World and UK semi-finalist. However, despite the players in this section being evenly matched with the big game credentials, you have to say that this is certainly Ronnie O'Sullivan's quarter for the taking if he's motivated and really wants to win. If Ronnie is in the mood it is very difficult to see Robert Milkins having any chance of victory, especially after the Milkman's showings in the UK Last 16 against Ronnie and at this weeks CL group 1 where he was pretty poor to put it kindly.




As for the other last 16 tie in this section, Barry Hawkins also showed some new year rustiness in group 2 of the Championship League, failing to win any of his 6 group matches. Hawkins also said prior to the UK Championship that he lacked motivation after the World Championship final, so it will be interesting to see how motivated he is for this one, but with it being The Masters motivation shouldn't be a problem. Meanwhile, revenge is the only thing on Ricky Walden as the recent CL group 1 winner looks to get one back on Barry Hawkins after Barry beat him in the 2013 World Championship semi-final. To add to this semi-final Ricky has also got a confidence boosting UK Championship semi-final as the highlight of his season, despite him not really being at his best. Walden does seem to be near his best after this week though, and he will need to be playing well and much more consistently if he is to be the much improved and more consistent Barry Hawkins.




Quarter Winner: Ronnie O'Sullivan to beat Robert Milkins and then Ricky Walden.




Masters runner-up: Ronnie O'Sullivan winning a close match against Neil Robertson




Masters Winner: Judd Trump doing enough to overcome Mark Selby before beating Ronnie O'Sullivan in a classic Masters final.


However the draw does pan out, this is going to be a fantastic week of snooker, with plenty of players coming into to top form, with lots of close matches on the cards, and that's just in the first round. I hope you enjoy the event, and I hope to be back with regular updates through the event.

Predictions for the Snooker Year of 2014

Right, with a feast of snooker to look forward to in 2014, thanks to Barry Hearn, Jason Ferguson and everyone at World Snooker. These days there are a lot more things that you can look to predict, and it's fair to say I have had a good go at predict some of them, offering 12 predictions for snooker in 2014 ranging from the winner of the Triple Crown events, to how many centuries Neil Robertson will finish the current season with.

Here they are then:

1)      Winner of World Championship: Ding Junhui - I said he'd win it 2 years ago, but I think he's definetly ready to do it now.

2)      Winner of the Masters: Ronnie O’Sullivan - The big events are what really motivates Ronnie, and he likes a good challenge. It doesn't get any bigger or more challenging than beating the top 16 in the world to win a prestigious title.

3)      Winner of The UK Championships: Mark Allen - you feel he has to win a big major sometime, so why not in 2014

4)      Surprise ranking winner: It wouldn’t be a huge surprise, but I have to feel that Michael White will win a ranking event in 2014 of the guys outside the current top 16.

5)      To end a long drought for a ranking win: Shaun Murphy and Judd Trump, both have worked to hard and are too talented to not win a ranking event some time, with Judd's last coming in November 2012 and Shaun's in March 2011.

6)      To finish the year World No.1 : Neil Robertson, he's been too good in 2013 and if he continues to play well in 2014 you can't see anyone passing him.

7)      To win most ranking events in 2014: Neil Robertson, again if he continues to play how he has in 2013, then he'll be a shoe in for this one.

8)      Big ranking climber: David Morris certainly to continue his climb up the rankings having re-joined the tour in 2013, a very talented player and it would be a shame not to see him continue to go forward.

9)      How many centuries will Neil Robertson finish the 2013/2014 season with? 91 for me (and not because 91 is my favourite number).

10)   Winner of the Shoot-out lottery? Jack Lisowski, a tournament tailor made for him, and usually one that is won by someone outside of the Top 16.

11)   Where will the 2014 UK Championships be held? Got to think they’ll stay in York, no reason to move them really a great venue.

12)   Classic Match of 2014 winner? A best-of-19 Masters final between Ronnie O’Sullivan and Judd Trump would be a cracker if that happened. Otherwise there are a few scenarios for World Semi-finals or World Finals in 2014 that would produce absolute crackers.


So those are my efforts, if you disagree with any of them, then you'll have to head on to Twitter and tell me where I've gone wrong.

Happy New Year, good luck in everything you do in 2014, and enjoy what is sure to be a great year of snooker.

Classic Matches of 2013 countdown: 1st Place: Judd Trump Vs Shaun Murphy (World Championship)

It's the final day of my 12 days of Christmas, classic matches of 2013 countdown as we find out who takes the prize of the best snooker match of 2013. This time we take a trip back to Tuesday 30th April and Wednesday 1st May when Judd Trump took on Shaun Murphy in an absolutely epic battle in the Quarter-finals of the 2013 World Championships. This match just about had everything from top potting, and break-building, superb tactical play and an incredibly tense final session.

So, let's take a final look back on the 2013 year of snooker, and these 2 magnificent days at The Crucible Theatre in Sheffield:

Judd Trump Vs Shaun Murphy

Shaun Murphy was in first in the opening frame of this World Championship Quarter-final, with a brilliant long red to stop the cue ball perfectly for the black, but he only made 16 from the opportunity, missing one of the easiest reds you will ever see missed. This gave Judd Trump an early chance, and once he had the reds open it turned into a golden opportunity but he missed an easy red himself after a horrible kick. The frame started to go scrappy after the next safety battle, but another cracking long pot gave Shaun the next chance but he could only make 9 from it before failing to get on the next colour. After potting the next 2 reds in separate breaks Murphy had a 5 point lead with 2 reds left. After a poor escape from a snooker from Judd, and some brilliant safety from both players, Murphy had the next chance but he missed an easy pink and left the last red on for Judd, and he was 9 points in front when he missed the green. Shaun potted the green, but missed a tough brown and left it on for Judd who potted the brown, blue and pink to win a lengthy opener and lead 1-0. Shaun knocked in another good red to give him the first chance of the second frame, but he could only make 21 before losing the cue ball having gone into the reds from another red. Judd had the next chance before missing another easy red, and with the reds open for Murphy it was a golden chance for him to level. That was exactly what he did with a better break of 68 making it 1-1. Another easy miss from Judd in the third frame showed that he was struggling, and Shaun Murphy had another good opportunity to score. He’d made 28 this time before falling out of position and playing safe.  A very poor safety from Judd, left Shaun another opening, with the balls nicely spread for him to move ahead. He did exactly that with another good break of 61 to go 2-1 up. Judd got in first in the fourth frame with a nice long red, but he went straight into the pack getting a brilliant split only to see a red go in. This gave Shaun another golden chance with all of the balls there for him to double his lead. He was really flowing nicely and a brilliant break of 82 put him into a 3-1 lead at the first mid-session interval.

Shaun Murphy had the first chance after the break with a long red to get in, but with reds not too nicely positioned there was work for him to do. Shaun had made it to 39 when he ran out of position slightly and went in-off on a difficult rest shot. A good long pot from Shaun got him back in but he missed a pink on the stretch. That left Judd in but he couldn’t take advantage, playing a bad shot to not get on a colour from the easy opening red. Judd had the next opening with an easy shot to the middle, and he made 34 before missing a double/treble on the green trailing by 2 points. Shaun missed a long green and left it on for Judd but also knocking the blue and pink safe. Judd potted the green and brown, before playing a poor safety on the blue, which Murphy then missed and left safe with Trump leading by 5 points. Judd then potted a good long blue, leaving him a tricky pink to the middle for the frame. He missed it and left it over the pocket for Murphy to try and steal the frame, and Murphy then had a tricky black along the rail to go three frames clear, and pot it he did to make it 4-1. A missed longish cut from Trump wouldn’t help his confidence, especially as he left Murphy amongst the reds with another scoring opportunity. A fantastic black along the rail from the jaws of the pocket from Murphy took his break onto 22 and made it into a golden opening for the 2005 World Champion to surge ahead. A cannon into the reds went wrong for Shaun shortly after though and he had to play safe on 28. Shaun had the next chance as well after a missed long red from Judd Trump once more, and with all the reds there this time it was a massive chance for Murphy to go 4 frames in front. A good 50 from Shaun put him 5-1 up, and meant that he would lead going into the second session, with 2 frames left to play in this one. Shaun had the first chance again in frame seven after Judd missed another long red by some distance. A terrible contact on what was already a tricky black ruined the break though on 33. Judd got in with a nice long red but he hit the brown going in and out of baulk from the pink and he missed another long red to leave Murphy in again. He could only make 9 though as he didn’t get a favourable split of the reds, but Judd was really struggling now and another miss gave Shaun yet another golden chance to win the frame, but he missed an easy pink to give Judd a decent chance of his own to try and claw back the frame from 43 points behind. Judd reduced the deficit to 25 before failing to nudge out a difficult red, but his safety was poor as he left the red he played safe on over the corner for Shaun. Unusually though Shaun turned down a pot on the blue to put the green safe and snooker Judd on the last red. Judd got out of the snooker and Murphy made a mess of and left the red over the middle. A good break of 33 stole the frame from Murphy’s grasp, in a frame that could have huge importance later, pulling the score back to 2-5. A really poor pot attempt from Judd left Murphy with an easy starter, and showed how much Trump was struggling in the session and how much Shaun needed to capitalise. He only made 3 though as he missed a fairly simple mid-range red which gave Judd an opening to try and finish the session on a really positive note. Trump only made 19 though missing a tough red to the green pocket. Shaun knocked in a cracking long red to give him the next chance after the safety battle. A good split of the remaining reds in the bunch made into a must take chance for Murphy to win the final frame of the first session. A break of 76 was enough for Shaun to do it and he led after the first session 6-2.

The second session started with Judd knocking in a good red into the middle, but he only made 6 before missing a tough black to the corner. A good long pot from Murphy gave him his chance of the middle session in this match, and once he played a nice cannon into the reds from the black that Trump left over the corner, making it a magnificent chance to keep the pressure on Judd. A break of 91 kept Judd under it and put Murphy 5 frames in front at 7-2. Judd had the first chance of the next frame with a good long pot to try and help him get going after a really poor first session. Judd could only make 7 before snookering himself on all the colours after going into reds from a red. Judd fluked a snooker though and Murphy left a red on trying to get out of it and with all the reds there, this was Trump’s chance to show everyone what he was made of. He did just that with a break of 93, his highest of the match so far to pull the score back to 3-7. Murphy knocked in a superb long red to give him the first chance of the eleventh frame, but he ran out of position having potted a tricky black on 16. Another “Shaun Murphy special” got him back in after a brilliant safety battle, but he could only make 6 after a careless positional shot. Murphy missed a cut into the middle after the next safety battle gave Trump a good chance to make a frame winning contribution. A careless cannon left Trump a thin cut on a red though and Trump went in-off from it and only made 14. This gave Shaun another golden chance to restore his 5 frame advantage in this match. He missed a tricky red for frame ball though, but Judd could only tie and he played a careless safety to leave Shaun the red he needed to secure the frame, and Murphy did enough from it to go 8-3 in front. Needing just 5 of the remaining 14 frames to go into the semi-finals. Judd Trump had the first chance in the last frame before the second mid-session interval, after Shaun Murphy was a whisker away from making a great pot to the green pocket, and he soon went into the reds from another red that was over the corner and the former UK Champion soon had an excellent chance to win the frame and get back into the match. After making a very tough cut back black, Trump’s break ended on 20 as he missed a simpler red. Murphy missed a mid-range red to punish Judd though, and the “Ace in the pack” was back at the table with all of the reds perfectly placed for him to take the frame. The break ended when Trump missed a trickier red with his opposite hand, but Murphy couldn’t capitalise potting the red but missing a blue to the corner, leaving Trump the red he needed for the frame and he did enough to get back into it at 4-8.

Judd had an early chance in frame thirteen after potting a good red to the yellow pocket following a missed long red from The Magician. Judd soon went into the reds and made it into a cracking chance to claw another frame back. He’d got to 44 before he played a poor positional shot and failed to get on his next red. Shaun was starting to miss some long reds though, and one of these cost him as it gave Trump another chance to win the frame. He only made 11 though as he missed a simple red to the middle. Judd then knocked in a brilliant long red to give him his third good chance of the frame, and he took it this time as an additional 36 made it 5-8. Judd was on the charge now, and he had the first opportunity of the next frame as well after a good long pot, and he potted a good red to the middle to keep the break going before splitting the reds brilliantly from the black and putting him in a great position to shave another frame off of Shaun Murphy’s lead. He soon found his form an played the rest of the break well to pull the score back to 6-8 with the first century of the quarter-final, a 118. Shaun Murphy knocked in a cracking long red to get going in frame fifteen and he soon looked more focused, but a poor split of the reds on 36 ended his early break. Judd had the next chance after Murphy missed a tough red, making a break of 29 before running out of position. After some failed attempts to get out of a snooker from Shaun, he eventually left Judd another chance with the frame there for the taking. Judd had a 28 point lead before he missed a tough cut on a red, leaving it over the hole only for Shaun Murphy to somehow miss it and leave Judd who did enough to leave Murphy needing 2 snookers which he couldn’t get so Trump closed the gap to a single frame at 7-8 with 1 frame left of the second session. Shaun had the first chance of the sixteenth frame after a Judd missed an attempt at a long pot, but he only made 8 before missing the pink trying to bring the black into play, giving Trump a chance to build a lead. Judd made 24 before running out of position as the final frame of the session showed its importance, with things getting tense. A tough missed red from Shaun under the circumstances, left Judd another chance to square the match which was what he did with a break of 30 completing Trump’s comeback making it 8-8.

 

The final session started off with Shaun Murphy going in-off attempting a long pot, which left Judd Trump with the first real chance of what was now effectively a best-of-9 match. He made 30 before opening the reds well, but he didn’t get on one and had to play safe. Judd took control of the frame with some good tactical play, and it soon gave him another good opportunity to lead for the first time since winning the opener. He had to play safe soon after but had valuable 50 point lead with 5 reds left and the yellow, brown, blue and black all fairly safe. Shaun potted the next red but couldn’t get on a colour, but he did open the brown up with his safety. Judd had the next chance with a beautifully timed long red and an additional 26 put him 9-8 ahead. Another great long red got Trump in first in the eighteenth frame but he missed the black when opening the reds straight after, and a great long red to the green pocket gave Shaun a chance to punish Judd’s error. Punish Judd is exactly what he did squaring the match with a magnificent break of 128, his first century of the match. Judd made a good red to the middle pocket after a safety error from Shaun, gave Trump a good scoring opportunity early in the nineteenth. Once he took the break to 43 with a good separation of the reds you expected him to win the frame, but a bad miss on 59 handed a golden chance for Shaun Murphy to steal with all of the balls there for the 2005 champion. A brilliant break of 70 from Murphy stole the frame from under Judd’s nose to go 10-9 ahead. Judd had the first chance of the twentieth frame, after Murphy left a red on down the rail escaping from a snooker, and with the reds nicely spread already it was a chance that Trump had to take after how he lost the previous frame. A good break of 78 helped him take advantage and square the match at 10-10 at the last mid-session interval.

A good long pot got Shaun Murphy in first after the break, a fantastic split of the reds from a red took him to 17 and gave him a great frame winning chance. A kick on 62 ruined his position and left him a tougher red to the middle which he missed to leave Trump in with a chance to steal the frame. A good long red took him to 21, but he missed the black off of the spot to abruptly end the break. Shaun missed a red along the rail though, which would have effectively won him the frame. Trump potted the next red but missed a thin cut on the black, leaving Murphy with a 40 point lead with 43 on the table. A careless shot trying to get out of a snooker from Shaun gave away 7 points, and left the cue ball in behind the black, with Judd putting him back into play from there. Shaun’s escape left the penultimate red on for Judd but he couldn’t get on the safe last red with Shaun leading by 25 with 35 on.  Judd potted the last red as well, and then potted the brown to get nicely on the yellow on the top cushion but he couldn’t bring the green out and had to play safe. Shaun stuck the green over the middle from a snooker and Judd made a 25 clearance to go 11-10 in front. A good long pot gave Murphy the first chance but he missed a thin cut on the brown going into the reds and left Judd with a good early chance to win the frame. He got to 39 when he missed an easy black off of the spot, which gave Murphy another chance but with the black and pink safe it wasn’t yet a clear opening. He missed a mid-range red on 6 though squandered any kind of opportunity he had, but Trump then missed a red to the middle and went in-off. Shaun soon had another chance, but it wasn’t clear cut. He managed to close the gap to 10 points with 3 reds left, with the frame starting to go scrappy. Shaun soon had another chance though potting the last 2 reds with blacks to go into a 10 point lead of his own with 1 red remaining. Judd potted the last red with the blue, before potting yellow, green, brown and blue to go 10 points ahead but failing to get the pink from the side cushion. Judd then had a horrible miss-cue but it didn’t cost him any more than the 6 foul points. Shaun played a loose safety leaving the pink near the pocket but Judd missed it and left a very thin cut on it for Shaun which he just about made to make it a black ball frame. Both players then missed long shots on the black but Judd eventually stuck it up and Shaun potted it to make it 11-11, and Murphy left the arena giving a fist pump to the crowd. Shaun missed a long red early in frame twenty-three, and that left Trump in with what soon became a great opening as he split the reds immediately from the blue. He was quickly in around the black, and he kept his composure with an excellent run of 90 to take a 12-11 lead and go within 1 frame of the semi-finals.

Judd had the first chance of the twenty-fourth frame but he couldn’t take advantage over-screwing his position leaving him another long red on 3, which he missed and left for Shaun Murphy. Murphy needed to take advantage of this if he was going to force a decider, and a good recovery red to the middle kept the break going, and once he’d opened the reds it was a golden opportunity for him to take advantage. Force a decider was exactly what he did with a break of 88 from Shaun Murphy to respond brilliantly. The decider started with Shaun Murphy knocking in a great long red but he couldn’t get nicely on a colour and had to play safe. Shaun Murphy made the first mistake in  the safety battle, giving Trump the first proper chance of the decider, but he could only make 12 before having to play safe. He played a poor safety though, leaving a red near the corner which Shaun knocked in, but couldn’t get nicely on a colour playing safe again. Murphy potted the next 3 reds but couldn’t get on colours nicely from any as the decider went scrappy. Both players were playing some terrific safety shots, as both players were putting everything they had into it, in such a tense decider. Shaun made the next mistake after a cracking snooker from Judd, which gave Trump the next chance, but with the reds mostly near cushions it wasn’t a great chance and needed lots of work. He made 21 to give him a 40 point lead which was huge with the remaining 5 reds all near cushions. Shaun then knocked in another cracking long pot and he potted the pink with it but was unable to get on another closing the gap to 37, knocking the brown in from his safety shot. Shaun potted the next red in style as well making 16 to close to 21 points behind Judd with 2 reds left on the table. Another unlucky escape from Shaun left the penultimate red to the middle for Judd which he potted with the pink to go 24 ahead with 35 on. Judd potted the last red and snookered Shaun on the yellow to lead by 25 with 27 left. After getting Shaun got out of the third snooker on the yellow, he left it for Judd who played it well to leave Murphy needing a snooker to win, but Shaun tried to pot the green and left it for Judd too, who then potted the brown to seal the 13-12 win and go through to the semi-finals. Judd gave a fist pump to the crowd in celebration, and Murphy as always was a gentleman congratulating Trump and applauding the crowd for their support. It was one of those matches where no-one deserved to lose and was certainly the best match of the 2013 World Championship by a mile.

 

This is what Shaun Murphy had to say about this unbelievable contest:

I always knew that this was going to be a tough game against Judd. His general standard of scoring and potting being right up there with the best in the world recently, I knew nothing but my best would be good enough.

I started the match well finishing the first session 6-2 ahead. The score line was slightly flattering, and i'm sure Judd would admit that he hadn't played that well at all. Going into the second session of eight frames I really just tried to carry on in the same vein as I’d started but for some reason, and i'm still not sure what it was, things just weren't the same. I remember that session turning after the interval when on a break of 60 odd and needing only three more pots for the frame I had a kick on the black which ruined my position for the next red. I went for it off the side cushion, missed and Judd took the frame. From there I lost all the initiative in the game and finished that session 8-8.

Into the third and final session in a race to 13, we both gave it everything. There were big breaks, great safety play and some good sportsmanship too and in the end it came down to a 12-12 thriller. We had the Crucible theatre to ourselves which seemed only right after what had been a great game. The final frame took nearly an hour to separate us and after some great safety play and some good long potting Judd managed to gain a winning lead and when he potted the last red with me needing several snookers, I could do nothing more that wish him the best of luck in his Semi Final against Ronnie.

I was gutted to lose that game as I was really starting to fancy my chances of lifting a 2nd World Title and it seemed so close at the time. But that is the game we play and love, there always is a winner and loser and unfortunately for me that day it was my turn to lose.

 

What a fantastic match, that on a personal level, had me on the edge of my seat more than any other match in the last few years, and I couldn't take my eyes away from the action for a second during an incredibly tense final session. The match was filled with big breaks, extraordinary potting, superb safety play, incredible a tension, a first session that was dominated by Shaun Murphy, a second session that was dominated by a brilliant Judd Trump comeback to set up an unbelievably close third and final session of the match, and it was only right that the last couple of frames were played in front of the whole crucible as this match could've have easily been a World Championship final and it really was a shame that someone had to lose, and it was a shame after that, that Judd couldn't go on further that the semi-finals.

 

Well, it was incredibly enjoyable for me to look back on these 12 superb matches over the last couple of weeks, and now I'm looking forward to the classic snooker that 2014 is sure to bring us.

Classic Matches of 2013 countdown: 2nd Place: Shaun Murphy Vs Ali Carter (2012 UK Championship)

It's the penultimate day of my 12 days of Christmas, classic matches of 2013 countdown and today we find out our runner-up in the countdown. So today we take a trip back to the 2012 UK Championship (as it was the first tournament in the qualification criteria) and to Friday 7th December when Shaun Murphy took on Ali Carter in the semi-finals of the 2012 UK Championship. This was an absolutely brilliant match with both players at the very top of their games, the match had some great scoring, good safety and most of all an amazing comeback.

So, it's time to cast our minds back to an unbelievable day at the York Barbican:

Shaun Murphy Vs Ali Carter

Shaun Murphy had the first chance of the semi-final after a missed long pot from Carter left Murphy a red to the yellow pocket, which he played well. A good recovery red took the break to 18 after trying to split the reds. However, he broke down on 34 after missing the blue when opening the reds, which left Ali a chance, but the mistake didn’t cost Shaun as Carter missed a red to the yellow pocket. This gave Murphy another chance, but he missed a red along near the cushion on 8. A poor shot out of a snooker from Shaun, left Carter in with a good chance to cancel out Shaun’s lead at the very least. He missed a red with the rest on 26, and left another red over the corner for Murphy, but he went in-off on the yellow with his lead now 8. A nice long pot from Carter got him back in with a frame winning opportunity and some good shots on the last red and then the following brown to get on the yellow made it a golden opportunity, and a good break of 27 left Murphy needing a snooker to tie on the pink, but he couldn’t get it and Carter took the 1-0 lead. A cracking long red got Murphy going in the second frame, and a good screw off of the pack from another red made it a golden early chance to level the match straight away, but he ran out of position on 16 and missed a long red to keep the break going. Carter then played a good red to get in himself, and a fantastic split of the reds early on in his break gave him an even better opening to double his lead. He converted that opening as a break of 77 put Ali Carter 2-0 ahead. A poor early safety left Murphy a good chance in the third, with the reds nicely spread fairly early in the break it was already a fantastic chance to get his first frame on the board. The break ended on 42 though when Murphy ran out of position and had to play safe. A poor safety shortly after from Shaun, left Carter with a magnificent chance to steal a frame that Murphy looked to have control of. A good split on the last 2 reds, made it an even better chance as Carter already had a 10 point lead. He had to play safe on the last red though after knocking it safe, and Carter had a 17 point lead. A superb pot on the last red from Murphy though, gave him the chance to steal after Carter had full control of the frame, and made a nice 27 to get his first frame on the board at 1-2. Another brilliant long red from Murphy gave him the first chance in the fourth frame, and once he took the break to 28 with a good split of the reds from the black it was an excellent opportunity to square the match. That was exactly what he did with an excellent break of 86 to make it 2-2.

Ali had the first chance after the mid-session break after a good pot to the middle gave him the chance, but he could only make 17 before running out of position. He soon had another chance though after Shaun Murphy played a poor safety shot to leave Carter an easy long red. He made a nice break of 40 to leave him 65 ahead with 75 on before deciding to play safe when he had a couple of tough reds on. Ali then knocked in a nice long red after a foul from Murphy which left Shaun needing snookers. Shaun couldn’t get the snookers though and Carter went 3-2 in front. A good early red gave Shaun Murphy the first chance of the sixth frame, and he then opened the black up, but Shaun didn’t play the best possible split which meant that the break ended on 22. Ali Carter than had a pretty unbelievable fluke after he missed a red into the middle, which gave him a great chance to go 2 frames clear again. He took advantage of his good fortune though as he went 4-2 up with a 101 clearance, ensuring that he wouldn’t be trailing going into the evening session. Murphy needed to respond and he started off with a superb long red once again to get in again, and a well cut red recovered things to take him onto 7. He went on to make 34 before having to play safe, and he then potted another extraordinary long red only mounted to 1 as he didn’t land on a colour and had to play a snooker. Murphy’s next chance came from Ali’s attempted escape which left Shaun in again with a golden chance to close the gap to a single frame. A break of 49 ensured it as Murphy signalled his attack and made it 3-4. The last frame as incredibly tense and scrappy with both players having chances but with the colours not ideally placed, their early breaks weren’t amounting to much. Ali Carter then had the ultimate fluke already with a 15 point lead, to fluke a red and then get perfectly on the black in baulk. Carter made 34 from it before missing an attempted double, which would have been frame ball with a lead of 49 with only 51 on. Murphy then missed a red which bounced off of the table, leaving him needing snookers, but he didn’t get a chance to play for them as The Captain potted the penultimate red with the black to seal his 5-3 end of session lead.

Shaun Murphy started the final session off with another terrific long red to get on the black. Murphy looked good early on but didn’t have the best split of the reds, and a poor positional shot soon after left Shaun a tough red which he missed and left in the jaws for Ali to have a golden chance of his own to go three frames in front. Some good recovery blacks into the corner and then the middle pocket soon had Carter back in good position, following some loose shot, but a counter attacking break of 79 was enough for Ali to extend his lead once more to 6-3. Murphy had the first chance of the tenth frame after potting a red over the pocket before missing a long blue, which gave Carter another good opportunity to score. Once he’d got the black back on its spot it was a great frame winning chance for Ali. In the end, Carter couldn’t get in good position to open the reds and had to play safe on 51 with a 50 point lead. Shaun Murphy gave himself a good chance after a nice long pot got him in, and with the reds and the colours all well placed a break of 59 from Shaun pulled the score back to 4-6.  Ali Carter knocked in a top draw red to get in first in the eleventh frame and once he had the reds open from the next shot it was already a golden opening for him to restore his 3 frame lead. That was exactly what he did, bouncing back with a brilliant break of 80 to go 7-4 ahead now.  Shaun Murphy missed a really tough long pot early in frame twelve under some pressure to pot it, because having not done so he left The Captain an early chance to fly away with the frame. A kick ruined his position though and he was forced to play safe on 16. After Shaun made a long pot and went straight in-off to leave Carter with the balls at his mercy to move 4 frames ahead. Carter made a nice break of 40 before he missed a tough cut on a red leading by 60 with 75 on. Murphy was in big trouble with a safety shot though, and left Carter an easy red to get on the black, which left Murphy needing a snooker. Shaun couldn’t get them though and Ali Carter went off to the mid-session break with an 8-4 advantage, 1 frame from going into the UK Championship final.

The Magician really needed to weave his magic to get out of this one with a victory, and he started to get his magic wand out producing a good long red to get in in the thirteenth frame, and he converted the chance that he got with a top draw break of 76 with some brilliant pressure shots included making it 5-8. After Carter put a red over the corner early in the next, Shaun had another good opportunity to make a big contribution and make Ali Carter sweat in his seat. Murphy made 49 before missing a tricky red. Carter then got in with a good red to get on the black which was on the brown spot, giving him his first chance of any kind to try and win the match, but he missed a red when he was close to the cushion to give Murphy another chance to keep the comeback dreams alive. However, he then went in-off from the black to open the frame up again, with Shaun 35 ahead with 6 reds left. An absolute bullet of a long red got Shaun back in again, but he only made 6 before missing a tough red, which gave Carter another chance to try and close the gap in the frame at least, but Carter soon ran out of position. A missed long red from Carter, left a long red for Shaun which he nailed once again, and a well cut red along the cushion left Carter in a position where he could only tie the frame and another good long cut this time gave Shaun the frame this time and reduced the gap to 2 at 6-8. Another brilliant long pot got Shaun in again at the start of the fifteenth, and a brilliant shot to screw through the reds from a red made it into a golden scoring opportunity very early on in the break. Score is exactly what he did as another superb 105 closed the gap to just a single frame now at 7-8. A poor safety from Carter in the next frame left Murphy an easy starter, and a good early split of the reds again made it into a fantastic opening at a very early stage of the break and once Murphy had got to 36 all of the reds were nicely spread for The Magician to force  a decider. A fantastic recovery red to the middle took the break onto 63 and the following black took him over the winning line in the frame, and in the end a break of 78 was enough for Shaun Murphy to force a decider and make it 8-8.

A great long pot from Carter this time gave him the first chance in the decider, and a good split of the pack from the blue took him to 21 and put him in a decent position to try and win the match in a single visit. However, he missed a fairly simple red with the rest on 32 and all of a sudden Shaun had his chance in the decider, and a fantastic red to the yellow pocket recovered position and took the break to 17, and another good cut to the left corner took it on to 25. However, a bad shot on 39 ended the break prematurely as Murphy couldn’t get on a colour so he was forced to play safe with a 7 point lead. A top safety from Shaun Murphy had Ali Carter in all sorts of trouble soon after and Carter tried and missed a long pot trying to pot his way out of it. This left a fairly tricky red to the middle for Shaun but he had no problems and was in again with a brilliant chance to seal the match. Shaun cleared up to and including the blue to complete the comeback winning the match 9-8 and going through to the UK Championship final. What a superb display of snooker from both players, and a brilliant comeback from Shaun Murphy.

This is what Shaun Murphy had to say to me when looking back on this incredible contest a few weeks ago:

This match was always going to be slightly more difficult than a usual semi as Ali and i are good mates off the table and that always changes things and not least because we were playing for a place in the final of the second biggest tournament in our game.

I remember playing ok to start with but never really got into the game if that makes sense. Sometimes in snooker it can feel like you're there purely so your opponent has someone to play against and that’s how it felt to me. Ali played really good stuff and after the first session and a bit found himself 8-4 up in a race to 9. Obviously at that point i had nowhere really to go but forward and decided in my chair whilst the referee was re racking the balls that i was going to try to attack my way out of trouble. I hadn't really considered losing either at that point which sounds a bit odd but i knew i had been playing well and my belief was high.

So i just kept playing the right shots as i saw them and luckily for me, they all went in. For the next 5 frames everything i looked at went right. It was just one of those run of frames that doesn't happen all the time, but when it does, special things tend to happen. I still look back at the video of that game and it inspires me to never give up even when things look bleak, it’s never over till it’s over.

 

What a comeback that was though from Shaun Murphy, and an unbelievable display of snooker in those last 5 frames, probably some of the best snooker that Shaun has ever produced. All credit has to got to Ali Carter though who played superbly himself to take the 8-4 lead and barely had a chance after that to clinch the match. It's just a shame that after that Murphy didn't go on to win the event. So then who's won the title of the best classic match of 2013? Be sure to come back tomorrow, on New Year's day to find out.

Classic Matches of 2013 countdown: 3rd Place: Neil Robertson Vs Mark Allen (Masters)

Today we enter the top 3 of my 12 days of Christmas, classic matches of 2013 countdown as we near the end of 12 days of snookering treats. We take another trip back to the 2013 Masters today by looking back on the Masters Quarter-final between Neil Robertson and Mark Allen on Thursday 17th January 2013. This match was an absolute corker with pretty much every frame having a big break in it, and was certainly a match that you could've watched over a best-of-19 final at the end of the week, so good did the pair play.

So this was what happened on a very cold afternoon at the Ally Pally:

Neil Robertson Vs Mark Allen

Mark Allen was first in, in this Masters quarter-final with a decent pot to the middle to get going, and he had to make some good early recovery shots to keep going but eventually missed an easier red on the stretch on 20. Robertson potted a decent red down the cushion to give him his first chance of the match, and he levelled the score in the frame with a fantastic split of the pack from the blue making it a good chance to take the opening frame. He made a good break of 66, putting him 46 ahead with 51 on but he missed a mid-range red after a poor positional shot. Allen made a good long pot, but missed the pink leaving in a position of needing snookers so Mark conceded the frame to Neil Robertson a 1-0 lead. Mark was in first in the second with a good cut back to the left corner, and with a few reds already in the open it was a decent opening for the Northern Irishman to score. He made a good break of 38 before being very unlucky with his split of the reds for the green. A careless safety from Neil left Allen in with a fantastic opening to clinch the frame, with a good lead already under his belt. A further 49 levelled the match up at 1-1. A careless in-off from Robertson left Allen a chance at a long pot, which he played to perfection, getting on the black nicely from it. He broke down on 9 though after a he missed a black which was made tough by the speed he played it at. The Aussie then spotted a plant which he played beautifully to get onto the black. A good rest shot took his break to 9 before he went on to 16 by going into the reds from the black, and opening them well. However, the cue ball ran away from him leaving him a long pot to continue, but he played it well and was soon back into good position, with a golden chance to now take the 2-1 lead. A quite brilliant 73 with some of the shots that Robertson played to keep it going, gave him the advantage again at 2-1. Mark knocked in a great long red to get going again in the fourth frame, and he was soon into the reds, with a decent split to give him a golden chance so early on in the break to level the scores once more. He made the rest look easy, as he waded in with a cracking century break of 138, which turned out to be the highest break of The Masters.

Mark Allen was first in after the mid-session break with a very thin cut to the middle, which got him nicely on the blue, from which he split the reds up to craft an early scoring opportunity. A great green, and then an even better red to follow kept the break going and with the reds now all there for the taking he had a golden chance to go ahead for the first time. A break of 72 established a 3-2 advantage for Allen and kept this amazing standard going. Neil Robertson knocked in a cracking long red to give himself an early chance but he could only make 3 as he missed a fairly easy red, which he left for The Pistol to get in and firing again. Allen made 20 before he had to play safe after an unlucky split of the reds. Neil then knocked in a good long red to get in, and with the reds well split, he had a golden chance that he really had to take to win the frame and square the match. This crazy standard continued as Robertson popped up with a century of his own this time, equalising at 3-3 with a run of 111. Neil had the first chance of the seventh frame as Allen missed a long pot leaving Robertson down at the scoring end of the table. Mark was in next with a fluked red from his safety shot getting him going and a brilliant long red kept him early on, but he missed the black on 2o, bring the break to a premature end. Robertson was in next with the reds nicely spread, but he played a poor positional shot on 24, bringing the break to another early end, but he did play a brilliant snooker behind the brown. Allen missed it and left the red along the cushion for Robertson and with the reds well placed he had to take it after the chances he’d already had. He broke down on 9 this time, but was gifted the red he needed for the frame by Allen who missed a tricky shot to the middle himself, but Robertson missed another blue to leave Allen needing one snooker to be able to tie the frame. He potted the red by mistake though and couldn’t double the black in, so he conceded to give Neil a 4-3 lead. Mark was in first in the next frame with a good cut back red, and then a brilliant blue to the top left corner to keep the break going, and get in a good position to get a nice early lead. Once Allen had split the reds open and reached 41 though it was looking like a good frame winning chance for the Northern Irishman to level the game yet again. Allen made a good break of 68, but missed a red to the green pocket with Neil Robertson only needing 1 snooker, but he played an absolute howler on the last red and conceded for Allen to level the game at 4-4, now a best-of-3 for a place in the semi-finals.

Neil Robertson had the first proper chance of the ninth frame with a good shot on an easy long red to get perfectly on the black. He picked off the loose reds before going into the bunch well, and then he played a good plant to get back into prime position, with a golden opportunity to move ahead once again. He took the chance superbly making a brilliant a 101 to go 5-4 up and a single frame from victory. Neil was first in again in the tenth frame with a good long red, but he missed a tough pink to the middle and left Allen in with the reds already reasonably nicely spread to try and force the decider. A nice cannon into the pack took him to 40 with the reds all nicely situated for Mark. He missed an easy pot to the middle on 60 though and Neil Robertson now had a fantastic chance to win the match. Neil closed to within 21 points of Allen, but couldn’t nudge the last red out and had to play safe. After a couple of missed attempts to get out of a snooker, Neil then left the last red on for Mark which he potted with the blue to leave Robbo needing two snookers on the colours. Allen potted the yellow, but Robertson kept going fluking the green in before he left the brown on for Mark to finally make it 5-5.

Neil Robertson was in massive trouble early on in the decider as he found himself snookered behind the yellow with a red over the corner pocket if he got the escape wrong. However, Neil played a brilliant escape to pot that red over the corner and get onto the black in one of the best shots you may ever see. This all gave the Aussie a great early opening to try and win the match and with the reds well spread after potting the first black, it was probably the best chance he could have asked for at this stage of the match. A good recovery red put him onto 30 and once he was back in great position 2 pots later the writing looked like it was already on the wall for Mark Allen. A fantastic break from 105 that won it for Neil in the end, and for Allen to lose like that was unbelievable really and truly undeserving of such a brilliant performance that Mark had put in there as well, and with the standard the 2 players had put on in this match, it really was worthy of making my classic matches of 2013 shortlist. 

 

What an unbelievable contest that was between 2 guys that could've easily gone on and won the tournament, and it really was a shame that there had to be a loser, despite how much of a massive cliché that is. That match kept up an excellent standard throughout, and you can be sure that the last 2 matches in the countdown will do exactly the same. The big question now is: Who has just not done enough, and taken the runners-up position? Come back tomorrow to find out.