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  • German Masters

    Mark Selby v Steven Hallworth Never played before
    Stephen Maguire v Ken Doherty Doherty leads 6-2
    Graeme Dott v Tian Pengfei Dott leads 1-0
    Alan McManus v Barry Hawkins Hawkins leads 5-2
    Judd Trump v Allister Carter 7-7
    Alfie Burden v Zhang Anda Burden leads 4-0
    Martin Gould v Mark J Williams Williams leads 2-1
    Ben Woollaston v Shaun Murphy Murphy leads 4-0
    ------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Zhao Xintong v Luca Brecel Never played before
    Marco Fu v Kurt Maflin Marco Fu leads 2-0
    Mark Joyce v Mark Allen Joyce leads 3-1
    Mark King v Stuart Carrington Carrington leads 1-0
    Ian Burns v Michael Holt Never played before
    Rory McLeod v Kyren Wilson McLeod leads 4-1
    Ryan Day v Liang Wenbo Day leads 4-3
    Fergal O'Brien v Stuart Bingham 4-4

    h2h courtesy of Wildey&Cuetracker
    Last edited by motorhead; 2 February 2016, 01:10 AM.

  • #2
    With only 9 top 16 players qualified we could easyly see a surprise ´player getting far into the tournament.
    ....its not called potting its called snooker. Quote: WildJONESEYE
    "Its called snooker not potting" Quote: Rory McLeod

    Comment


    • #3
      Match for me is Marco Fu v Kurt Maflin .......both play at the same club . Both playing well in practice , so should be a good match .
      Still trying to pot as many balls as i can !

      Comment


      • #4
        yep, hoping to see a "relative" low player come through and come good

        also Fu v Maflin on the TV table but probably wont be.

        I am doing "a SnookerFan" I have booked off the three days and (barring all the beer) have stocked up with juicy tidbits for the duration, wife and children at work/schools respectively (hope I got that the right way round :wink so SNOOKER RULES THE HOUSE for three days!!! :biggrin:

        Saw on Europsort that they again have ROS and JW in the studio but with Matt Smith as anchor (he has done football on Sky and BT Sport I believe). See how he does controlling ROS and JW, but anything should be better than "Murray" :wink:
        Up the TSF! :snooker:

        Comment


        • #5
          I'm actually flying out to Berlin tomorrow night to watch a few sessions, hopefully see some good snooker and sample the German beer!

          Comment


          • #6
            I expect Kyron to do well in that bottom half, he's been to our club a couple of times and is a bully when he fancies the task.

            I'd love to see Luca Brecel advance beyond the usual form

            Comment


            • #7
              Originally Posted by JoshDyson147 View Post
              I'm actually flying out to Berlin tomorrow night to watch a few sessions, hopefully see some good snooker and sample the German beer!

              ah fantastic!
              hope you have a great time. I was considering going, as a close work colleague lives just down the road from the venue and said I could stay
              enjoy the German beer :very_drunk:
              Up the TSF! :snooker:

              Comment


              • #8
                Best tournament I think, venue is unreal, crowds amazing, you'll enjoy it over there

                Comment


                • #9
                  Originally Posted by DeanH View Post
                  I am doing "a SnookerFan"
                  haha
                  Originally Posted by DeanH View Post
                  Saw on Europsort that they again have ROS and JW in the studio but with Matt Smith as anchor (he has done football on Sky and BT Sport I believe). See how he does controlling ROS and JW, but anything should be better than "Murray" :wink:
                  Robertson has been announced to be in the studio, too bad only u guys in UK are gonna see it.

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    Originally Posted by pottr View Post
                    I expect Kyron to do well in that bottom half, he's been to our club a couple of times and is a bully when he fancies the task.

                    I'd love to see Luca Brecel advance beyond the usual form
                    I hope he gets a little rough/tough and puts on a show...
                    I try hard, play hard and dont always succeed, at first.!!!!:snooker:

                    Comment


                    • #11
                      Originally Posted by frazz View Post
                      Best tournament I think, venue is unreal, crowds amazing, you'll enjoy it over there
                      Just watching Murphy match replay I think, what an amazing arena, must feel great if your on your game playing there.
                      Cheers Ricky
                      Last edited by Ricky2112; 2 February 2016, 08:49 PM.

                      Comment


                      • #12
                        Yip, I played Carter the year he won it there, 2012 I think it was, I had a 100 to go 3-1 up n the crowd were goin nuts, I had about the biggest smile ever tryin no to laugh, mega buzz!

                        Comment


                        • #13
                          Originally Posted by frazz View Post
                          Yip, I played Carter the year he won it there, 2012 I think it was, I had a 100 to go 3-1 up n the crowd were goin nuts, I had about the biggest smile ever tryin no to laugh, mega buzz!
                          2013, when you beat Michael White (5-2) and Gould (5-1)
                          Up the TSF! :snooker:

                          Comment


                          • #14
                            Doherty 6-2 up over Maguire is a bit of a surprise.

                            Comment


                            • #15
                              So, a major ranking event is about to start, so a few words are in order...

                              It's not my favourite event of the season, as you probably know, mainly because it's only five days of snooker, and even then the coverage is disgraceful. Only one table is usually televised, which means it's even tougher to cope with World Snooker's ridiculous choices of TV matches, and they absolutely refuse to move the cameras to another table if the main match finishes early. Last year we had that "magical" quarter-final day, when all four matches were brilliant and finished 5-4, but we only saw one of them, and that kind of ruined the whole thing. There was also a 1st round match between Allen and Williams that wasn't even televised, because a lesser match was chosen as the only TV match in that session.

                              Another problem this year is the absence of a lot of the top players. Only 32 players have made the trip to Germany, so there was always likely to be more top player casualties than in events where 64 players make the trip, but this is a pretty extreme case... The biggest names missing are Ronnie O'Sullivan, John Higgins, Neil Robertson, Ding Junhui, Ricky Walden and Joe Perry, which means Kyren Wilson is the only player in the field who has won a major event this season. The winners of the other five major titles are all out. That said, there has always been some good snooker played at the German Masters, and it's been very well supported in all previous editions, so it should still be a pretty good week. :smile:

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

                              Quarter 1:

                              Mark Selby v. Steven Hallworth
                              Stephen Maguire v. Ken Doherty
                              Graeme Dott v. Tian Pengfei
                              Barry Hawkins v. Alan McManus

                              A reasonably strong quarter to start with. Mark Selby is the defending champion and has a fairly easy opening match to play himself into the tournament, but things get a little more difficult after that. Stephen Maguire should be his opponent in the 2nd round, in a repeat of last year's semi-final, which Selby won 6-2. Maguire was also a finalist in this tournament in 2012, when he lost to O'Sullivan in a cracking match. Apart from the World Championship, these last few months are probably the most important part of the season, with a bloc of three really big events, and Selby will probably be more pleased than Maguire with how they went. He was a semi-finalist in both the International and the UK Championship, losing to the eventual winner both times, as he did in the Masters a few weeks ago. He has shown consistently decent form, but he is still waiting for one really good tournament this season. On the other hand, Maguire didn't get much out of the three big events, although he was a little unlucky to come up against an inspired Robertson early in the UK, and he didn't play too badly at the Masters either, but went out to a very good Trump in his opening match. His best this season remains the semi-final in Australia right at the start, so perhaps he is due a good tournament. The head-to-head favours Selby, with some really high-quality matches between the two in the past, and Selby should be a slight favourite this time as well. Ken Doherty could also have an outside chance in this section. He has a good record against Maguire, less so against Selby, but the last time these three players found themselves in the same quarter at a major venue, Doherty came out on top, beating both Selby and Maguire on his way to the semi-finals in the 2011 Australian Open. The more recent times have been a struggle for Doherty, his last appearance at the business end of a major event being three years old now, but a win over Michael White in qualifying was a good one for him, and it should give him some much-needed confidence.

                              Barry Hawkins is the favourite for the other QF spot here. He hasn't been very consistent lately. His run to the semi-finals at the Crucible came out of nowhere really, after a very poor season for him, and his run to the recent Masters final was similar, as he had done nothing notable prior to the tournament. He was in great form for most of the Masters, but played a pretty pathetic final in the end and only managed to win one frame, even though O'Sullivan wasn't really playing all that well. Will he go back to losing in the early rounds here, or will he play another strong tournament? His strongest performance in the German Masters in the past was 2013, when he reached the semi-finals. Graeme Dott was a semi-finalist in the first German Masters in 2011, but he was playing better snooker than now. It's been over a year since he last reached the business end of a major tournament, unless you count the World Grand Prix. He doesn't play Hawkins much, so it's a tough one to predict, but Dott should be second favourite. Both players also have fairly dangerous 1st round opponents to overcome first. Tian Pengfei, for example, played pretty well to reach the last16 in Daqing this season, and he beat Ding in the qualifiers for this tournament. He is looking a lot more like the player he was five or six years ago, and it's nice to see. Unfortunately we can't say the same for Alan McManus, whose minor resurgence seems to have come to an end now, with no major results in recent times. I know McManus plays Hawkins here, but it's his record against Dott that I find more interesting. They have both been on the Main Tour for ages, and presumably they know each other pretty well, but they have only met once in a major match over the years, and that was 20 years ago! I suspect they will avoid each other again here, but in case they do meet, it's worth noting that McManus has won 8 of their last 9 frames in the PTC series.

                              Quarter 2:

                              Judd Trump v. Allister Carter
                              Alfie Burden v. Zhang Anda
                              Mark Williams v. Martin Gould
                              Shaun Murphy v. Ben Woollaston

                              The strongest quarter of the draw, in my opinion. Judd Trump finds himself in a familiar position this week, with a series of good results behind him, but no major titles. He surprisingly failed at the last hurdle in Shanghai this season, and he failed at the business end of the Masters as well, after playing really well in his first two matches. He was a finalist in this tournament two years ago, but this time he finds himself under pressure as early as the 1st round, having drawn one of the toughest opponents possible. Ali Carter is of course a former winner of this event, back in 2013, and he is a very dangerous player at his best. His comeback from illness has perhaps not been as successful as he would have liked, which means his ranking has suffered a little, and it doesn't help when he draws the likes of Trump and Higgins early in tournaments. Trump and Carter have actually only met once in a major match, but it was a match most people will remember, in the 2nd round of the 2012 WC, when it looked like Trump had the match won, but Carter held on and won the last four frames to prevail 13-12. They were more evenly matched on paper back then though, whereas Trump is a clear favourite now. The two underdogs in this section don't seem particularly dangerous, but they both had good wins in qualifying. Zhang Anda beat Robert Milkins, while Alfie Burden beat Ricky Walden, and Burden also reached the last8 of the PTC in Gibraltar just before the new year, so he could be a decent bet. I'm still going with Trump though.

                              Shaun Murphy is the highest seed in what is surely the toughest little section. He was a finalist in this tournament last year, having just won the Masters a few weeks previously, but this time he comes here on the back of some very poor results. In fact, he has done nothing of note since the World final, and this is his third season in a row where he has gone out early in every major tournament prior to the new year. This is around the time when the season usually starts turning around for him, so I would expect him to have a good tournament shortly. Ben Woollaston could be a tricky 1st round opponent, but Murphy beat him pretty comfortably in this tournament three years ago, as well as in the UK Championship this season. Woollaston has also had a fairly mediocre year since his run to the final of the Welsh Open last season, so he is probably not among the real dangermen here. Martin Gould, on the other hand, certainly is a dangerman. He is enjoying his best-ever season, with a run to the final of the Australian Open and two further runs to major quarter-finals, but it could have been even better for him. He had a 5-1 lead over David Grace in the quarter-finals of the UK Championship, after the draw had really opened up for him, but his game completely deserted him and he ended up losing the match. Unfortunately that sort of thing happens way to often with him, and it's stopped him winning major titles. How far can he go this week? Mark Williams is his opponent in the 1st round, and it's interesting that the two have never met in a major match before. Williams was the first winner of the German Masters in its current form, back in 2011, and that remains his most recent major title. I have a suspicion that Williams doesn't really have the ambition to compete at the top of the game anymore. He seemed resigned to losing in his opening match at the Masters as soon as the draw came out, and of course he did lose, having had a great chance to beat O'Sullivan 6-5 and completely change the way the tournament would have gone. All in all he didn't play too badly in the match though, compared to most tournament this season, which has mostly seen him struggle. He had a real purple patch around this time last year, so I wouldn't rule him out just yet, especially with all the best-of-7 stuff coming up, which seems to be his favourite format these days. It will be really interesting to see how this section plays out. Murphy and Williams have lots of history, but they haven't actually met on the big stage since 2010. You may remember their matches in the 2010 Masters and the 2010 UK Championship, particularly the latter one, when Williams came from 8-6 down to win the decider, potting that outrageous black off the spot along the way, even though he actually missed it by a mile. That was a time when Williams was competing for major titles and Murphy was going through a drought though, so the roles are reversed now. I would also make Murphy a clear favourite in a potential match against Gould, having beaten him in every major match they've ever played. Some of those were quite one sided, others were closer, including some really high-quality battles. Williams against Woollaston could also be an interesting pairing here, a repeat of their semi-final at the Welsh Open last season, when Woollaston surprisingly won. Take your pick... :smile:

                              Quarter 3:

                              Luca Brecel v. Zhao Xintong
                              Marco Fu v. Kurt Maflin
                              Mark Allen v. Mark Joyce
                              Mark King v. Stuart Carrington

                              The third quarter looks much weaker on paper, which could give a few unlikely contenders a decent chance. Marco Fu is one of those players who don't really take advantage of weak sections. He is equally likely to progress through a tough or an easy draw, and I've given up on trying to predict his form now. He was a finalist in this tournament in 2013, a year in which he reached three major finals and won one, but recent years have been less successful for him. In the last two seasons he has reached 8 major quarter-finals (if we include the Champion of Champions), but no semi-finals at all, which means he hasn't really been close to winning any major titles. He's had to settle for winning events such as the General Cup and the PTC in Gibraltar, which are decent trophies, but not the kind to satisfy the likes of Fu. The other three players in this section are not of the same standing, but all three are well capable of troubling Fu. Kurt Maflin played quite well in Berlin two years ago, then reached his first major semi-final in Beijing at the end of last season, but this season he has done very little so far. Luca Brecel is a similar case, a semi-finalist in Wales last season, but he has failed to push on from there, and he is back to being a big underdog here. He reached the last16 in the UK Championship though, and he beat Jamie Jones 5-0 in the qualifiers for this tournament, so perhaps his form is slowly returning. He has never played Zhao Xintong before, which is not surprising. It is a rare appearance at a major venue outside of China for Zhao, his first in Germany. He was supposed to play Robertson in the qualifiers, but Robertson lost his opening match, so Zhao was able to take advantage of a somewhat easier draw. He is a very promising player, but I have a feeling he is not yet ready to do any major damage here. Some of you may remember his match against Fu in Shanghai last season though, when he made a brilliant clearance to win the decider by a point on the black, after Fu had missed a sitter for the match. Brecel, on the other hand, has lost all four of his previous matches against Fu, although the two haven't met outside of the PTC series yet.

                              Mark Allen can't complain about the draw he got here. He has had a decent and consistent season so far, the highlights being a semi-final in the Shanghai Masters and the final of the Champion of Champions. Like Fu though, Allen is surely looking for major titles at this point in his career, and he hasn't actually won one in almost three years, despite being near the top of the rankings throughout this period. The German Masters in particular has not been his favourite tournament, as he has lost in the early rounds in all five previous editions. It would be a surprise if Mark Joyce came through here, but he has reached the business end of major tournaments twice in the past, and he beat Allen in Australia this season with a really strong performance, so I suspect he will fancy his chances. Stuart Carrington doesn't have much experience at major venues, but it's worth noting that he is the player who knocked O'Sullivan out of this tournament, so it will be interesting to see what he can do here. Mark King, on the other hand, has a lot more experience in these situations, but of course his form is a little suspect at the moment. He did come through a very tough draw to reach the last8 in Gibraltar though, and the win over Anthony McGill in the qualifiers was a good one for him. He has played Allen on the big stage twice. The first time was in the quarter-finals of the 2012 World Open, when he lost 5-1, and Allen went on to win the tournament, but King got revenge in the 1st round of the World Championship the following season. It was a really impressive win actually, as Allen led 8-6, but King played four really strong frames when it mattered the most and won 10-8 in the end. As I said, this quarter looks like one where surprises are possible, but the safe bet is still Fu and Allen to come through.

                              Quarter 4:

                              Michael Holt v. Ian Burns
                              Kyren Wilson v. Rory McLeod
                              Liang Wenbo v. Ryan Day
                              Stuart Bingham v. Fergal O'Brien

                              As I mentioned above, Kyren Wilson is actually the only player in the tournament who has won a major title this season, and the draw has put him in a pretty reasonable quarter, where he is actually the favourite to reach the quarter-finals. Rory McLeod has a good record over him, including two comfortable wins in long matches and a 5-1 win the World Open qualifiers two seasons ago, but Wilson is a much improved player these days. Germany is the place where McLeod won his first PTC title this season, so I'm sure he is glad to be back, whereas Wilson is actually making his debut in Berlin, having lost in the qualifiers in previous years. Since this is a major tournament as opposed to a PTC, it's worth noting that McLeod has actually been pretty poor in the major events all season, while Wilson is of course the Shanghai Masters champion. Perhaps a better bet to knock Wilson out here would be Michael Holt, who seems to really like this tournament, having reached the quarter-finals in 2013 and 2014. The only time he has ever done better in a major ranking event was in Shanghai in 2013, when he beat Wilson 5-1 on his way to the semi-finals. Wilson of course returned the favour earlier this season, also in Shanghai, when he beat Holt 5-1 in the last16. Ian Burns deserves a quick mention as well, having beaten the in-form John Higgins in the qualifiers.

                              And we conclude with a really interesting section of the draw. Stuart Bingham is the obvious favourite, but he has never really had a good run in the German Masters in the past, and he has at least two very tricky opponents here, if not three. It's not been a particularly great season for him so far, although not terrible either. He was a semi-finalist in Shanghai and also a semi-finalist in the Masters a couple of weeks ago, but he never really found the kind of form that won him the World title last season. His first big match as World champion was in Australia in the summer, where it was actually Fergal O'Brien who beat him, 5-4 from 4-2 down, so Bingham has a chance to settle the score here. I would expect him to do so, as O'Brien hasn't really shown any great form since Shanghai last season, while Bingham is a lot more consistent these days. The other match in this section could be one of the best in the 1st round. This has been Ryan Day's best tournament in the last two seasons, with runs to the SF and the QF in 2014 and 2015 respectively, so I'm sure he is glad to be back in Berlin. He hasn't actually managed to reach the business end of any other major events in the past year though. Liang Wenbo has been a lot more successful. He was himself a semi-finalist here last year, and actually came pretty close to beating Murphy, but he had to wait until the UK Championship to reach his second ranking final. He played great snooker all week, the kind of snooker that could see him have a good run here as well. He lost in the 1st round at the Masters, but even then he played pretty good stuff, he was just unlucky to come up against a very strong Higgins. Liang played Day at the UK Championship during his first purple patch back in 2009, and won 9-3 with a very strong performance, even though Day was the world number 6 at the time. They also met in the quarter-finals of this tournament last season, Liang again winning 5-4, in what must have been one of the fastest 5-4 scorelines in the history of the game. Unfortunately the dreadful coverage of the event prevented us from seeing that match, which was a real shame. Liang also beat Bingham here last year, 5-4 in the last16, with the match coming down to the last couple of balls. Who will be left standing at the QF stage this time?

                              Possible QF line-up:

                              Mark Selby v. Barry Hawkins
                              Judd Trump v. Shaun Murphy
                              Marco Fu v. Mark Allen
                              Kyren Wilson v. Stuart Bingham


                              There we are... An enjoyable five days coming up, hopefully. :smile:

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