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  • Cazoo Masters 2022

    https://wst.tv/how-to-watch-the-cazoo-masters/

  • #2
    I see Zhao is in now, anyone know who he replaced?

    -
    The fast and the furious,
    The slow and labourious,
    All of us, glorious parts of the whole!

    Comment


    • #3
      Originally Posted by PatBlock View Post
      I see Zhao is in now, anyone know who he replaced?
      -
      I thought he’d got there as a result of winning UK title which got him into top 16.

      Comment


      • #4
        Originally Posted by PatBlock View Post
        I see Zhao is in now, anyone know who he replaced?

        -
        Originally Posted by Nifty50 View Post

        I thought he’d got there as a result of winning UK title which got him into top 16.
        Correct, the UK win jumped him from 26th to 10th and a place at the Masters by right
        Up the TSF! :snooker:

        Comment


        • #5
          Ah yes of course, thanks. Shame Luca didn't quite make it.

          -
          The fast and the furious,
          The slow and labourious,
          All of us, glorious parts of the whole!

          Comment


          • #6
            So, with the Masters coming up, I think a few words are in order...

            I realise I am probably no longer the right person to write tournament previews, but it's been a while since the last one, so I thought I would give it a shot. Looking at the 16 players here, it doesn't actually seem like much has changed, it's still mostly the same names we've had for the past seven or eight years. I quite like the strict top 16 field for this tournament, especially when compared to the way qualification is done for the Champion of Champions, where you often get winners of tournaments that are mostly a joke from a competitive standpoint. I much prefer the Masters field, especially in the time since the rankings updates have become more frequent. It's the best way of getting the 16 players who are actually somewhere close to being the 16 best players in the world at the moment. That said, the system isn't perfect. Luca Brecel is the most obvious absentee, having won the Scottish Open just after the cut-off point. This is actually the second time that's happened, with Neil Robertson missing out in 2018 in almost identical circumstances. Also notable is the absence of David Gilbert, a semi-finalist in the previous two editions of this event. Ding Junhui also misses the Masters for the first time in 15 years, but it seems like he is no longer interested in being a full-time player, so I guess his drop down the rankings was inevitable. All the other top players are here, from what I can see, so it should make for an entertaining tournament.

            Let's see what the draw looks like...

            Quarter 1:

            Yan Bingtao v. Mark Williams
            John Higgins v. Zhao Xintong

            Yan Bingtao, the defending champion, starts as top seed. Since the Masters doesn't carry any ranking points, Yan is actually just about hanging onto a top 16 spot at the moment. A lot of points from two seasons ago are coming off, but he hasn't been able to replace them with any really strong results in the ranking events. Winning a big event such as the Masters usually makes someone a strong contender for any title, and while I am not one of those people who feel the need to put an asterisk on every achievement and find some way to discredit it, the circumstances a year ago were definitely a bit unusual. When you talk about the Masters, you imagine it being played in London in front of a huge crowd, which brings along some additional pressure that last year's event didn't really have. Still, a title is a title. Lately, Yan has developed a reputation as something of a grinder, which is unusual for a player his age. Having a strong safety game and the patience to employ it is certainly commendable, but getting involved in lots of long and drawn-out games is bound to take its toll in tournament play. I think a bit of scoring firepower is missing in his game at the moment. I am quite confident he will still improve as a player though, he seems to be willing to put the work in. And he has all the time in the world really, still nine years until he is as old as the likes of McGill, Wilson or Lisowski are now, three players we often regard as quite young still. Mark Williams is probably one of the most favourable opponents any of the top 8 seeds could have drawn here. I was actually a little surprised to even see him in the draw when I first glanced at it, but then I remembered his winning the British Open at the start of the season. Not my favourite event, as you can probably guess. I think awarding a big prize to a best-of-5 event with a random draw has too much potential to distort the rankings, and indeed Williams finds himself near the very top of the one-year list, even though he never faced another top player to win that title. Huh, I guess I do put asterisks on titles after all, who would have thought? His results always seem to come in waves. He is one of the best players in the world when he puts the work in, but then he has some droughts that seem to last for years. My feeling is that he is unlikely to reach the top of the game again, though I've had that feeling before and it proved to be incorrect. In any case, this is a repeat of the 2017 Northern Ireland Open final, a match Williams very narrowly won after Yan was unlucky in the scoring visit that could have given him the title. Four years and a bit later, Yan should be the favourite here.

            John Higgins has had a remarkable physical transformation this season, to the point where it was difficult even to recognise him at the beginning. He still looks his age, but he seems to be a lot fitter and I suspect healthier as well. I can't say how much that has contributed to his good results this season, but there is no doubt he has reached a level of consistency that was missing in his game in some of the previous seasons. He has reached four finals in just half a season. All in the short format of course, but I guess I can skip saying that now, because virtually all the season is short format now that the Chinese events are gone. Higgins lost all of those finals unfortunately, even though he was one scoring visit away from winning two of them. At this stage of his career, I'm sure all he really cares about now are titles, so in that respect his good form hasn't really been rewarded yet. Can he keep it going in the second half of the season? Zhao Xintong comes here as the UK champion, so he is the only player to have won a tournament with matches of medium length this season. It wasn't the toughest route to the title, but he did beat Higgins along the way, in what was arguably his toughest match. It was a very impressive performance from him, finally adding some sensible match play to his already impressive potting. He played in a way that made many people think he could become the man to beat within a few years. Well, that's entirely possible of course, but we've also seen players struggle after winning their first title, Brecel being the perfect example. Like Yan, Zhao definitely has time on his side though, being the second-youngest player in this tournament by quite a large margin. I think what also impressed a lot of people was what a genuinely nice and humble person Zhao seems to be, and he did say he was still looking to learn and improve his game. I would be happy to see him adding more titles in the near future, but I still have to give a slight edge to Higgins in this matchup.

            I would quite like to see the two youngest players in the tournament meeting in the QF here, but there is every chance it could be the two oldest players as well. Quite a contrast of course, as Yan and Zhao have never really met each other in a match of any significance, while Higgins and Williams have all that history between them. My feeling is that we could see a repeat of last year's final though, between Higgins and Yan. They can't seem to avoid each other this season, meeting three times already, and all at the business end of tournaments in matches of proper length. Higgins has had the upper hand so far, winning all three. That said, we're getting into the second half of the season now, so I wouldn't be surprised to see things turning around for some players. I'll go for Yan to come through this quarter.

            Quarter 2:

            Neil Robertson v. Anthony McGill
            Ronnie O'Sullivan v. Jack Lisowski

            Neil Robertson won this tournament the first time it was played at the Alexandra Palace, in 2012, but the title has eluded him since. He is almost 40 now, but it doesn't seem like he is on his way down at all. In fact, the last few seasons have seen him reach a level of consistency he never really had in his younger years, getting to the business end of many events now, rather than just settling for his two or three strong performances each season. It's only his underwhelming record at the Crucible that has kept him a step below the likes of Trump, Selby and O'Sullivan in recent years. Well, he already has a title and another final to his name this season, so he comes here as one of the favourites for sure. He lost in the 1st round of the UK Championship, which he kind of had coming after stupidly supporting Murphy's ridiculous comments, but he can make things right with a better result here. Anthony McGill has stayed in the top 16 mostly due to his strong performances in the last two World Championships, but he showed some good form in the more recent times as well, getting to the business end of two tournaments last month. Unfortunately for him, he came across an inspired Brecel both times. McGill is actually one of only two players here not to have won a title outside of the short format before, so we are still waiting for him to reach that next level in his game. Can he match the strong scoring of Robertson? Not much history between them outside of the short format, but both of their previous games were close, with each player winning one.

            Ronnie O'Sullivan is of course the most successful player in the history of the Masters, winning it on seven occasions, with some dramatic final defeats thrown in as well. He's played alright since winning the World title in 2020, but it took him until a few weeks ago to finally add another title to his collection, after a long drought that lasted well over a year. He still contested many finals in this time though, so there is no doubt he still remains a major force in the game. Higgins has been his bogey player lately, knocking him out of three tournaments in the first half of the season, but O'Sullivan finally managed to avoid him on his way to winning the World Grand Prix last month. The most impressive moment of that entire run was probably how he reacted after going a couple of frames behind in the final. He really dug deep and had the patience to turn that game around, before finding his best form in the evening to close out the match. Jack Lisowski is the other player in this tournament without a major title to his name. In fact, it's even worse for him, as he hasn't actually won anything in the short format either. He is an excellent cueist, but unfortunately that doesn't seem to translate into being an excellent snooker player in his case, which must be a constant source of frustration for his fans. If someone like Zhao Xintong can manage to play a little more sensibly without losing much of his natural game, there really isn't any excuse for a more experienced player such as Lisowski not to do the same. Last season's results are keeping him fairly high in the rankings, but he hasn't added any major points so far this season, so he has actually dropped out of the top 16 now. If the cut-off point came just a little bit later, he would have missed out. This is the one matchup where it's difficult to see any surprises. They've played three times before, and O'Sullivan has won very comfortably each time. I think Lisowski's game plays right into O'Sullivan's hands, and it's doubtful whether he has the mental strength to beat O'Sullivan on the big stage regardless. I've been wrong before though.

            To make matters worse for Lisowski, he has never beaten Robertson in a big match either, and he has a negative record against McGill as well. The other two matchups are a little more interesting though. McGill of course ended O'Sullivan's title defence at the Crucible last year, in a match full of mini comebacks and momentum shifts. It would be quite interesting to see a rematch of that one, and I'm sure O'Sullivan wouldn't mind it either. That said, O'Sullivan against Robertson is the one most of us are expecting here. Their World Grand Prix final last month was quite entertaining. It reminded me of their Welsh Open final in 2016, where Robertson pulled away in the first half and then O'Sullivan completely dominated the rest of the match to win fairly comfortably. Not so comfortable last month, but O'Sullivan did outplay Robertson in the second half again, after somehow holding onto a 4-4 scoreline in the afternoon session. It was the first time in a while that O'Sullivan really played his best when it mattered the most, while Robertson let one slip after winning some really close finals in recent times. Tough call, but I think I'll go for O'Sullivan in this quarter.

            Quarter 3:

            Judd Trump v. Mark Allen
            Kyren Wilson v. Stuart Bingham

            Judd Trump missed last year's event due to covid, at the time when he seemed to be winning everything. He finds himself slightly under the radar here, after a fairly quiet first half of the season by his standards. He managed to win the Champion of Champions to at least get something out of it, but his performances in the ranking events have been underwhelming, to put it mildly. And you can't really put it down to bad luck either, as he hasn't been losing to in-form players like Brecel or Higgins, but rather to players lower down the rankings he would expect to beat almost every time. He hasn't been beyond the QF of any event that carries ranking points this season, which is a worrying statistic for a player who has won a total of 11 ranking events in the previous two seasons combined. And it's not as if he is skipping events either, he is pretty much playing in everything at the moment. He needs to turn things around in the upcoming events, possibly starting with this one. Tough opening match for him against Mark Allen, the winner of the Northern Ireland Open this season. Allen is clearly going through some problems away from the table at the moment, and that's unfortunately pretty evident in his results. That title in Belfast has at least slowed down his slide down the rankings a bit, but he still finds himself dangerously close to dropping out of the top 16, with no other results to back up his one success. One the plus side, Trump was one of his victims in Belfast, and his record against Trump in general is quite solid. His recent record at the Masters is not so great though. After winning it in 2018, he failed to win a single match in the following three editions of the tournament. Big match for both players then.

            Kyren Wilson is another player who seems to be unpopular on this forum at the moment. I don't really care about stuff like technique as a viewer, so his robotic style doesn't really bother me, but his impressive series of quarter-finals and semi-finals must be getting old for a lot of his fans. I'm sure they would be more than happy to trade them for the occasional title. To be fair though, he did play some good stuff in the UK Championship, and he can count himself slightly unlucky that Brecel played ridiculously well against him in the SF. Impressive consistency aside, it will soon be three years since Wilson last won a proper event. He has been a top 8 player for some time now, but there is just something missing at the moment for him to really join the very best players. As I said with Yan, it takes its toll if every match is hard work, and you are bound to pay the price at some point. Wilson needs to find a more reliable scoring game to make things a little easier for himself. Stuart Bingham is the opposite case in that regard, making the game look quite easy when he finds his form, as of course he did two years ago when he won this title. He too is sliding down the rankings a bit now, staying in the top 16 mostly due to his run to the SF at the Crucible, and helped of course by his good run in the World Grand Prix last month as well. Everything else has been pretty forgettable though, and the worrying thing is that he has failed to qualify for a couple of the upcoming tournaments as well. It's a good thing he doesn't have any really big points coming off in the near future, but he could definitely find himself in trouble next season. These two players haven't played each other in a proper match in two years, Bingham winning the last one in this tournament in 2020. I think Wilson starts as a slight favourite on this occasion though.

            Looking ahead, this quarter could provide us with an interesting QF match. There was quite an infamous grudge between Allen and Bingham in the past, and Trump and Wilson have a strong rivalry as well. Even Allen against Wilson would be a repeat of the 2018 Masters final, a defeat that Wilson found quite hard to take. And of course Trump and Bingham have played each other in finals before, as well as that terrific SF at the Crucible in 2015. Difficult to pick my favourite pairing... I guess Trump against Wilson is always eagerly anticipated, even though the match itself usually doesn't live up to the hype. Wilson was definitely winning that rivalry in the past and probably still is, but Trump has won the last four matches that mattered, so it might be turning around. I'll go for Trump in this quarter.

            Quarter 4:

            Shaun Murphy v. Barry Hawkins
            Mark Selby v. Stephen Maguire

            I guess Shaun Murphy has paid for his crimes in the UK Championship now, so I can stop hoping he loses every match. I guess some of his frustration is understandable. He was probably hoping for a return to form after getting to the World final, but instead it's been one big struggle. He only has one ranking QF this season, in Belfast, while everything else has been early exits. Not that surprising in the context of his career of course, because he's never been one for playing well all the time. He seems to save his best form for one or two events every season, so things might still turn around for him at some point. Could it be this week? Barry Hawkins actually used to be known for raising his game after new year as well, but I don't think that really applies anymore. Not that he has played brilliantly in the first half of the season of course, but at least he had a good run to reach the SF of the UK Championship. At the risk of discrediting that achievement though, the best player he beat along the way was Matthew Selt, so he couldn't possibly have scripted an easier draw for himself. The Masters doesn't really allow for any easy draws though, almost everyone here is a proven winner. I'm sure Hawkins is happy to be back, having missed out on a Masters place for the first time in eight years last season. He beat Murphy both times when they've previously met at this venue, but the overall head-to-head tends to favour Murphy. Close one to call.

            Mark Selby is back on top of the rankings, after a strong last season that saw him winning his 4th World title and another couple of events. It was a very welcome return to form for him, but his grip on that top spot in the rankings is a little tenuous at the moment, after failing to add any significant points in the first half of this season. He too has basically only had one strong result, getting to the SF of the recent World Grand Prix. He's always been able to win some big titles in the seasons where he was the reigning World champion, so his recent struggles are a bit surprising for me. I don't know whether the Masters is the tournament where things could turn around for him. He won it as a debutant back in 2008, then added two more titles and another couple of finals in his following six appearances, but things have changed pretty dramatically since then. He actually hasn't won more than a single match at the Masters in any of the last seven editions. And Stephen Maguire was the player who knocked Selby out in the 1st round last year, although that was of course played at a different venue with no audience. I don't really see Maguire as a top player anymore, but he's been back in the top 16 for a while now, and he should stay there for a while longer, at least until his Tour Championship points from two years ago come off. And the season hasn't been a total disaster for him either, with two ranking quarter-finals to his name. I can't say I'm particularly impressed by either player here, and the head-to-head is pretty close as well, which I guess Maguire will be happier with.

            This has to be the weakest quarter of the draw on this season's form alone, so it's quite difficult to pick a winner. Selby against Murphy would of course be a repeat of last year's World final, which I found to be quite an entertaining match. It's questionable whether they can reproduce that kind of standard here though. And Murphy against Maguire is always a grudge match, but their status in the game isn't what it used to be when they had some great games 10 or 15 years ago. Could it be Hawkins perhaps? He used to get some really good results against Selby, knocking him out of the World Championship on a couple of occasions, and he did the same to Maguire. But he too isn't quite as sharp at the moment. No idea really, so I think I have to go by the book here and just pick Selby.

            Possible SF line-up:

            Yan Bingtao v. Ronnie O'Sullivan
            Judd Trump v. Mark Selby


            And there we are... I'm happy with any combination really, as long as there is some good snooker to watch, and possibly a midnight finish or two. Should be a great snooker week.

            Comment


            • #7
              Hoping for a Robertson and Williams win today as I’d like to see them play when I go on Thursday 🤞

              Comment


              • #8
                Strange camera angle...or is it me? Table looks a bit squashed...

                Comment


                • #9
                  Great to hear JV in commentary.
                  www.mixcloud.com/jfd

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    Doesn't the number 1 seed play number 16 seed in the first round or is it a random draw?

                    Comment


                    • #11
                      Only MJW can play the pink like that amd he fluked it because of his bravery.

                      We are seeing glimpes of vintage Williams today.
                      Last edited by fkhan; 9 January 2022, 05:32 PM.

                      Comment


                      • #12
                        Originally Posted by ken147 View Post
                        Doesn't the number 1 seed play number 16 seed in the first round or is it a random draw?
                        Random draw, as Yan is #1 and MJW is #9
                        FYI the 1-8 seeds are placed in the draw/quarters appropriately, then the 9-16 are random drawn.

                        The following shows the seeding in the brackets by the names

                        http://www.snooker.org/res/index.asp...=45&event=1129
                        Last edited by DeanH; 9 January 2022, 03:47 PM.
                        Up the TSF! :snooker:

                        Comment


                        • #13
                          Originally Posted by DeanH View Post

                          Random draw, as Yan is #1 and MJW is #9
                          FYI the 1-8 seeds are placed in the draw/quarters appropriately, then the 9-16 are random drawn.

                          The following shows the seeding in the brackets by the names

                          http://www.snooker.org/res/index.asp...=45&event=1129
                          Ah I see. Thanks Dean.

                          Comment


                          • #14
                            If the ref doesn't verbally warn a player about a potential frame forfeit does that make the rule unenforceable? Or would the assistant ref intervene?

                            Asking because of the red Mark Williams missed twice and was warned. If the ref didn't say anything could he miss it a third time without a frame forfeit on the basis the ref didn't warn him?
                            www.mixcloud.com/jfd

                            Comment


                            • #15
                              Originally Posted by MrRottweiler View Post
                              If the ref doesn't verbally warn a player about a potential frame forfeit does that make the rule unenforceable? Or would the assistant ref intervene?

                              Asking because of the red Mark Williams missed twice and was warned. If the ref didn't say anything could he miss it a third time without a frame forfeit on the basis the ref didn't warn him?
                              I guess the marker can intervene in such a situation. I have seen something similar a while ago.

                              Comment

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