The Masters Jan 11 - 18, 2015

[alabadi]

I think Murphy deserved to win, he was more consistent over the whole tournament, other than Robertson's Quarter final and Semi final matches he wasn't playing that well.

although he didn't play to that standard , Murphy was on top of his game and at last was able to punish any mistakes and win most frames in one visit rather than the customary breaking down on 40-50 breaks.

if this was Ronnie who won 10-2 everyone would be saying what a genius no one can touch him, another record...blah blah blah.

i think we should give Murphy the credit he deserves, after all he can't do more that pot the balls in front of him, its not his fault if Robertson wasn't playing his best.

[Sir Ivanhoe]

Murphy has played extremely well all tournament
and is a deserving winner. Well done. Its nice to
see him playing with such confidence.

What a tipsy turvy pro tournament the Masters was. The TV pundits raising Ronnie up one min with Robertson playing great and would be a challenge for Ronnie. Look what happened. 6-1. Ronnie not able to raise his game under pressure to compete. Then Robertson says on defeat to Murphy he was on a downer after playing great previos rds. Surely, he should have been well up for the final challenge. 10-2 with no response from Robertson. Something wrong somewhere!

[llyscy]

Well, that was about as far away from a midnight finish as it gets, a pretty disappointing end to a good week. Robertson probably played his worst-ever match on a big occasion such as this, and Murphy played one of his best, so it's no wonder the score is so one-sided.

Murphy played great all week and is a deserving champion. He did the damage early on today, then just took advantage of Robertson's many mistakes. He left him in the balls quite a few times, but Robertson just couldn't put anything together. Murphy also had a bit of luck when he needed it. It's amazing, if we look back to the very first match of this tournament, Mark Selby had a scoring visit in the decider to take Murphy out. What a different tournament this could have been... But as so often happens, Murphy survived and really raised his game for the rest of the week. Hopefully he can now be a factor in the remaining major events this season as well. :smile:

Looking forward to the German Masters.

I think yesterday he approached the match with the wrong mindset. If you look at his comments after beating Carter, he said: "I've got a good conversion rate of winning tournaments after beating Ronnie", so he was probably thinking he only needed to beat O'Sullivan and the final would just win itself. It's not the first time something like this has happened to Robertson. I remember when he reached the semi-finals of the 2009 Welsh Open, he said he was the favourite now, because none of the other players had ever won a tournament, and the next day he found himself 4-0 down to Joe Swail and lost. Sometimes you can get away with a little complacency, but certainly not against an in-form Murphy. Robertson missed a couple of balls early on and went 3-0 down, which just put him under pressure and he never really recovered. And Murphy was playing too well to let him back into the match.

As for the previous finals... I think he played his B-game for most of the Wuxi Classic, so I didn't really expect any fireworks from him in the final. He should have gone out in the quarter-finals really, when Murphy had a 60-point lead in the decider and missed an absolute sitter, allowing Robertson to come back into the frame and win on the black. I thought he would lose to Hawkins in the semi-finals as well, because Hawkins was really on fire all week, but Robertson played a solid match at the right time. It's a credit to him that he managed to win that title without playing his best, it just shows what a solid all-round game he has developed in recent years. He played another good tournament in Australia, but again the final wasn't a massive surprise, because Trump had been the best player all week, and his good record against Robertson gave him the confidence to play his best snooker in the final.

If you take the China Open final as well, where Robertson was really ill and failed to give Ding a good match, this past year was a little weak for Robertson in the major finals, but I'm sure he will come back strongly. :smile:

thank you, greet from China

[Odrl]

Odrl, do you have a thought about why Robertson can't played his best in recent finals, like wixi classic against Perry( although he won), Australia open,and of course this time

I think yesterday he approached the match with the wrong mindset. If you look at his comments after beating Carter, he said: "I've got a good conversion rate of winning tournaments after beating Ronnie", so he was probably thinking he only needed to beat O'Sullivan and the final would just win itself. It's not the first time something like this has happened to Robertson. I remember when he reached the semi-finals of the 2009 Welsh Open, he said he was the favourite now, because none of the other players had ever won a tournament, and the next day he found himself 4-0 down to Joe Swail and lost. Sometimes you can get away with a little complacency, but certainly not against an in-form Murphy. Robertson missed a couple of balls early on and went 3-0 down, which just put him under pressure and he never really recovered. And Murphy was playing too well to let him back into the match.

As for the previous finals... I think he played his B-game for most of the Wuxi Classic, so I didn't really expect any fireworks from him in the final. He should have gone out in the quarter-finals really, when Murphy had a 60-point lead in the decider and missed an absolute sitter, allowing Robertson to come back into the frame and win on the black. I thought he would lose to Hawkins in the semi-finals as well, because Hawkins was really on fire all week, but Robertson played a solid match at the right time. It's a credit to him that he managed to win that title without playing his best, it just shows what a solid all-round game he has developed in recent years. He played another good tournament in Australia, but again the final wasn't a massive surprise, because Trump had been the best player all week, and his good record against Robertson gave him the confidence to play his best snooker in the final.

If you take the China Open final as well, where Robertson was really ill and failed to give Ding a good match, this past year was a little weak for Robertson in the major finals, but I'm sure he will come back strongly. :smile:

[daffie]

Yes indeed...my fellow Dutchie

[llyscy]

Well, that was about as far away from a midnight finish as it gets, a pretty disappointing end to a good week. Robertson probably played his worst-ever match on a big occasion such as this, and Murphy played one of his best, so it's no wonder the score is so one-sided.

Murphy played great all week and is a deserving champion. He did the damage early on today, then just took advantage of Robertson's many mistakes. He left him in the balls quite a few times, but Robertson just couldn't put anything together. Murphy also had a bit of luck when he needed it. It's amazing, if we look back to the very first match of this tournament, Mark Selby had a scoring visit in the decider to take Murphy out. What a different tournament this could have been... But as so often happens, Murphy survived and really raised his game for the rest of the week. Hopefully he can now be a factor in the remaining major events this season as well. :smile:

Looking forward to the German Masters.

Odrl, do you have a thought about why Robertson can't played his best in recent finals, like wixi classic against Perry( although he won), Australia open,and of course this time

[wemba]

Commentators should be commenting for TV viewers only.
They crack jokes and the audience laughs while the player is on the shot.
They draw circles all over the table.

Commentators need to take a back seat.

[WHolmes]

As far as I have seen in the big tournaments, the players will let the ref now if they can hear the ear pieces. I must say Brendan Moore does a great job and is a great ref

[gavpowell]

I have noticed than Hendry won't talk as the player is taking his shot, It seems like Hendry doesn't want to say anything while they are taking the shot even though he wont be heard by the players

To be honest, this is the first tournament I've attended without an earpiece since they first introduced them(well, I had about a dozen with me but they were broken or required batteries I decided not to pay for), but for a lot of this week, and particularly tonight, I could clearly hear the commentary from where I was in row P. I couldn't always quite make out what they were saying, but anyone much further forward would surely have heard every word. It got better in the second session tonight, so whether they turned on the soundproofing or something, I don't know!

[jrc750]

Yes, well done, Murphy. Perhaps in another 9 years you might fluke another major title.

Ouch you really are bitter aren't you

[Byrom]

[WHolmes]

Yes I prefer the attacking style of play much better
than too defensive. That is why I prefer Robertson,
Trump and Murphy along with Ding.

Its great to see the likes of Trump, Murphy and Maguire
raise their game and improve their attitudes as it makes
for more exciting snooker in my opinion.

I think that if Judd works on his overall game a bit more he can easily take Ronnies place, at the moment he has the problem that he get's close to winning and starts to worry too much, if he can get over that he will start winning

[Hal]

Well, pretty good performance by Shaun, even if his opponent was playing much better than Neil has been in this final, he would have been hard to beat. A bit pitty, after the way both of them been playing during the week, one would have been expecting closer match.
I am happy for Murphy (Stevens fan here ), as he has took his time to get me as has his fan, but now I really admire him.
Trashing world number one by this margin is not bad, even when he was struggling a lot .... It takes a lot to be world number 11, is not it?

[robertmac]

Yes I prefer the attacking style of play much better
than too defensive. That is why I prefer Robertson,
Trump and Murphy along with Ding.

Its great to see the likes of Trump, Murphy and Maguire
raise their game and improve their attitudes as it makes
for more exciting snooker in my opinion.

[WHolmes]

I've never liked him either, no idea why, other than he has a an annoying smugness about him?

I haven't been following snooker for very long and when Judd and Ronnie went out I wasn't sure who to follow but when I watched Murphy vs Maguire I was suddenly on Murphy's side. I really like his attacking style of play