2018 German Masters

[JimMalone]

He won one at the champion of champions did he not?

Yeah, I meant ranking event. Sorry for being imprecisely.

[Odrl]

So, the German Masters starts tomorrow...

I think it's fair to say this is not one of my favourite major events, mainly because it's not actually a full week of snooker. It also doesn't have the kind of world-class field other major events have, because the two rounds of qualifying usually filter out quite a few of the top players, especially as they are played at such an awkward time just before Christmas. On this occasion we also have a few players who have either withdrawn or not entered the event at all, so the list of absentees is arguably stronger than the list of players who have made it to Berlin. It includes Ronnie O'Sullivan, John Higgins, Neil Robertson, Kyren Wilson, Stuart Bingham, Marco Fu, Luca Brecel, Ali Carter, Stephen Maguire, Anthony McGill and Michael White. Also missing are almost all of the Chinese players who have reached ranking finals and semi-finals this season, including Yan Bingtao, Cao Yupeng, Li Hang and Zhou Yuelong.

On the plus side, we had fairly decent TV coverage last year, finally showing footage from more than just the main table, so I hope for more of the same this year. Let's see what the draw looks like...

Quarter 1:

Anthony Hamilton v. Jimmy Robertson
Martin Gould v. Gary Wilson
Mark Williams v. Fergal O'Brien
Mark Allen v. Matthew Selt

The defending champion is usually among the players who have at least an outside chance of doing something, but on this occasion Anthony Hamilton is probably not a very good bet. He had a fantastic last season, but this season he has struggled with a back injury and hasn't really been able to find any form, so he has only won one match in the big events all season. I think he could be in trouble as early as the opening round here. Jimmy Robertson has never reached the business end of any major event, and never won a match in Berlin either, but he has been reasonably consistent in recent times, winning at least a match at every venue since September. Martin Gould played some good snooker in the "second quarter" of the season, reaching the semi-finals of the International Championship and the quarter-finals of the Shanghai Masters and the UK Championship, which means he has had by far the best season of anyone in this little section. He also has a history of playing well in Berlin. He won this tournament in 2016, his only major ranking title to date, and he got to the semi-finals again the following year. He faces Gary Wilson in the opening round, a good player in his own right, but Wilson is another one who has struggled this season, failing to win a match at any venue outside of the short format. Probably one of the easiest sections to call, with Gould being a clear favourite to go through for me.

The competition for the other quarter-final spot is somewhat stronger, with Mark Allen and Mark Williams possibly meeting each other in the last16. Allen if of course the man of the moment, having won the Masters in great style a couple of weeks back. This is already guaranteed to be the best season of his career so far, regardless of what happens between now and the World Championship. Players sometimes struggle for a while after getting a big result though, and Allen has never followed any of his titles with a prolonged period of good play, so I suspect it would be too much to expect him to suddenly start winning everything. Also, his record in Berlin is quite awful, probably the worst of any top player here. Williams, on the other hand, won the inaugural German Masters in 2011, although he too has not actually reached the business end here since 2012. He has had a very consistent season so far, with good results in all kinds of format. The highlight for him was winning the short-format Northern Ireland Open in November, although it's worth pointing out that he never actually played another top16 player there, which is unlikely to be the case this week. I would be surprised if either of the two outsiders got through here. After failing to qualify for Riga at the start of the season, Matthew Selt has actually played at the venue stage of every ranking event since, but he has had no good results to speak of. It's been a pretty horrible season for a player who wasn't far off getting into the top16 not too long ago, and he has now dropped down the rankings quite a bit. Fergal O'Brien is a long shot as well, although he did at least get to the quarter-finals of the China Championship this season, so his drought has not been as long as Selt's. I have to go for one of the two obvious contenders here... Allen actually has a pretty strong record against Williams, including a win in that wonderful match in the semi-finals of the 2014 International Championship over two sessions, but on this occasion I have the feeling Williams could prevail.

Quarter 2:

Ding Junhui v. Michael Georgiou
Ricky Walden v. Jack Lisowski
Joe Perry v. Yu Delu
Judd Trump v. Ben Woollaston

I can only repeat what I said about Ding Junhui in my last couple of previews. Winning the World Open was his one and only highlight this season, but apart from that it's been a pretty dreadful season for him, full of early exits and uninspired performances. Poor results in the UK Championship and the Masters have become something of a tradition for him now, but luckily he tends to play better once we reach February. He is returning to Berlin after a two-year absence, having won this tournament in 2014 in great style. Michael Georgiou is probably one of the easiest opponents Ding could have drawn here, although easy draws didn't really help him in previous events. It's nice to see Ricky Walden playing a bit better again, the Scottish Open in December was the first time he reached the quarter-finals of any event that carried ranking points in over a year, and he played pretty well in the UK Championship as well. He beat Jack Lisowski in Berlin seven years ago, but I suspect his job will be a little more difficult this time, because Lisowski has been playing quite well this season. He reached his first major semi-final in Shanghai two months ago, and he has finally started climbing up the rankings a little. It's a tough little section to call... Apart from Georgiou perhaps, all the players here have the quality to go through, but they are all quite inconsistent and unreliable. I think I will go for Ding here.

Judd Trump has never won this title, but he has performed better than most in this tournament, including a run to the final in 2014 and three further quarter-finals. His season has been about as good as we've come to expect from him. He managed to successfully defend his European Masters title, and he also played some great snooker to reach the final in Shanghai, but his drought in the really big events continues. The 2012 International Championship was the last time he won the kind of event you would expect top4 players to be winning, so I think he must be somewhat disappointed with the way things have gone recently. He also lost in the qualifiers for the China Open, which has suddenly become one of the most important and lucrative events of the season, so that must be another source of frustration for him. He plays Ben Woollaston in the opening round here, a pretty favourable draw in all honestly, especially considering Trump has whitewashed him the last two times they met in the best-of-9 format, including Shanghai this season. Woollaston has played at the venue stage of every ranking event so far this season, but the short-format Paul Hunter Classic was the only time he's made any significant progress, so his consistency has not been worth much. He generally struggles outside of the short format as well, having never reached the business end of any event with matches longer than best-of-7. Joe Perry has also been slightly disappointing this season, failing to get back into the fight for a top16 place in the rankings. He did reach the quarter-finals of the UK Championship last month, but considering the number of tournaments we've had up to this point, I expected a few more decent results from him. The same goes for Yu Delu, a semi-finalist in the Scottish Open last season, but overshadowed in a major way by some of the other Chinese players this season. I remember him beating Ding in Berlin six years ago, so it's nice to see him back at the venue stage after a fairly long absence. He lost to Perry in the World Open earlier in the season though, and he will be second favourite again here. As for the quarter-finalist from this section, one would think it's mainly between Trump and Perry, but, amazingly, they haven't actually played each other in a proper best-of-9 match in almost ten years. I'll go with Trump in this section.

Quarter 3:

Mark Davis v. Niu Zhuang
Ryan Day v. Thepchaiya Un-Nooh
David Gilbert v. Mark Joyce
Shaun Murphy v. Alan McManus

I've been impressed with Ryan Day this season, so I would have probably fancied his chances anyway, but even more so in a favourable section such as this one. He has reached the business end of the German Masters each time in the last four years, so I think it's fair to say this is one of his favourite tournaments. His best results this season are winning in Riga and reaching the semi-finals of the UK Championship, where he particularly impressed with his fighting spirit and composure under pressure. He did lose in the qualifiers for the China Open though, which is not the best sign ahead of this week. Thepchaiya Un-Nooh was one of Day's victims in York, and second favourite against him here as well. He played a couple of good tournaments towards the end of the year in both 2015 and 2016, so it was somewhat disappointing not to see him repeat that this season. In fact, he hasn't reached the business end of any event that carried ranking points yet, so his ranking has dropped quite dramatically as a result. Mark Davis could be Day's biggest obstacle in this section. He actually reached a ranking quarter-final in Germany way back in the mid 90s, long before what later turned out to be his best years, and before some of the players of today were even born. He reached another one four years ago, after a gap of 18 years. That said, he hasn't actually won a match at any venue since October, so he is not coming here with any great form. He should probably win one here though, because Niu Zhuang is one of the few real outsiders still left in the draw. It has to be Day in this section, doesn't it?

Things get a little more interesting in the second part of this quarter, where Shaun Murphy starts as the favourite on paper. He has reached a minor and two major ranking finals this season, and he also won the Champion of Champions, so he is enjoying some of his best results ever at the moment. Inconsistency is a slight problem for him though, in the sense that he either gets to the final or goes out fairly early, with very few results in between. He has played quite well in Germany in the past, including a run to the final in 2015. Could we see something similar from him this week? Alan McManus is another player who played ranking snooker in Germany back in the 90s, but unfortunately his recent form can't really compare to those days. The only consistent thing for him has been reaching the venue stage of events, but he hasn't actually played at the business end in any of them since that miraculous run at the Crucible in 2016. David Gilbert has been even more consistent in reaching venues this season, as he hasn't actually missed a single one yet, the quarter-finals of the World Open being his best result so far. He whitewashed Mark Joyce in Shanghai, before Joyce got some revenge when he prevailed in a close match in the UK Championship. Joyce has perhaps been slightly less consistent than Gilbert, but his run to the quarter-finals of the UK Championship does stand out a little, and he actually came within a frame of getting to the semi-finals, which would have been a great result for him. It was a similar story for Joyce in this tournament two years ago, when he had a brilliant chance to beat Brecel in the quarter-finals, but ended up losing 5-4 in the end. This is probably one of the most evenly-matched pairings of the 1st round here, and I could see either player surprising Murphy in the following round. I'll still go with Murphy, but I'm looking forward to seeing how this section plays out.

Quarter 4:

Barry Hawkins v. Graeme Dott
Mei Xiwen v. Hammad Miah
Liang Wenbo v. Tom Ford
Mark Selby v. Xiao Guodong

Moving on to what I would consider the weakest section of the draw, with a great chance for someone to have a rare good run this season. Barry Hawkins is the big name, but his results this season have been miles away from what you would expect of a top8 player. Not just his results in fact, some of his performances on TV have been shockingly poor. I keep saying he tends to play better in the second half of the season, so this would be a good time for him to find some form again. He can't really complain about his draw here, can he? Graeme Dott is his biggest obstacle before the quarter-finals, another player who has been struggling of late. He got to the semi-finals of this event in 2016, and he actually beat Hawkins along the way on that occasion, but he hasn't reached the business end of any ranking event since, not even a minor one. Well, Hammad Miah and Mei Xiwen have never actually had a particularly notable run between them, so they are unlikely to pose much of a problem for the two experienced players here. Mei usually plays quite well whenever we see him on TV though, so you never know... I don't know, I guess Hawkins is the one to go with here. He too has reached the semi-finals of this event in the past, and he beat Dott very convincingly over three sessions when they met in the World Championship last year.

Mark Selby could do with a good result here, because his season hasn't really gone the way he would have liked so far. He did win the International Championship, but it's his one and only good result, so it's kind of similar to Ding and the World Open. It was unusual to see him underperforming in both the Masters and the UK Championship, because the best-of-11 format is usually an advantage for him. He is not bad in the best-of-9 format either, and the German Masters in particular has been a strong tournament for him in the past, including a win in 2015 and another run to the final four years prior. He beat Xiao Guodong very comfortably over three sessions at the Crucible last year, but Xiao surprised him when they met in the short format earlier this season. Xiao is another player who has been slightly overshadowed by the great performances of other Chinese players this season, although he has had a pretty good season in his own right and has climbed up the rankings again. He got to the quarter-finals of the Scottish Open last month, losing 5-4 to the eventual champion Neil Robertson in one of the best matches we've seen all season. Liang Wenbo has unfortunately not done so well, so he has dropped out of the top16 again. He skipped quite a few events in the early part of the season, which looks like it may have been a mistake now, because he hasn't really been able to find his form yet. He got to the semi-finals of this event three years ago, and he could do with a similar run here. That just leaves Tom Ford, last year's quarter-finalist in Berlin. He would not be my pick here, but I would by no means rule him out either. He has played good snooker in Germany in the past, reaching the final of the short-format Paul Hunter Classic last season. All things considered, I will go with Selby, but a surprise is quite possible in this section.

Possible QF line-up:

Martin Gould v. Mark Williams
Ding Junhui v. Judd Trump
Ryan Day v. Shaun Murphy
Barry Hawkins v. Mark Selby


There we are... Should be a fun couple of days. :smile:

[JimMalone]

Quite nice to have a good ranking event again, though not one of the top events. For me it will be very interesting to see how Ding and Selby respond to their weak first half of the season. Also with the quite thin field this should be a good option for one of the lower ranked players to have a good run, if he hits form this week.

Possible quarterfinals:
Martin Gould - Mark Williams
Ricky Walden - Judd Trump
Ryan Day - Shaun Murphy
Graeme Dott - Mark Selby

[Odrl]

No interest in discussing the German Masters? Oh well...

A ridiculously quick match between Trump and Woollaston tonight, eight frames played in under two hours and most of them won in a single visit. Allen and Selt weren't much slower either, a 5-4 that was over at 22:30. Usually you would expected a midnight finish for results like that. :smile:

[DeanH]

2018 German Masters

well done Selt beating on a decider the Masters champ Allen

[DeanH]

2018 German Masters

Gould coming back from 4 down to 4-2 so far...

[JimMalone]

Did catch a bit of the Trump - Woollaston match, but as often with Trump matches it wasn't very interesting to me.

Good result for Selt to win against Allen. Actually like Odrl my expextations for the Masters Champion at this tournament were not high.

[JimMalone]

Mark Allen was a bit frustrated:
"So may hate/hate affair with the German masters continues. Seriously hate the event!! So distracting for all players who aren’t on table 1. Will not be back at the event until the setup changes!! Shootout up next in a week"

[Odrl]

Mark Allen was a bit frustrated:
"So may hate/hate affair with the German masters continues. Seriously hate the event!! So distracting for all players who aren’t on table 1. Will not be back at the event until the setup changes!! Shootout up next in a week"

Heh, sour grapes at its best. :wink:

I actually don't like the setup very much either, but not for the same reason as Allen. My main problem is the atmosphere on the main table, which seems to be completely dead. It's so far away from the audience that I get the feeling no one is really watching it, everyone seems to be watching the table closest to them instead.

I've always thought it would be best to just remove the middle table from the arena and televise two outside tables instead. :smile:

[crocodile]

Quite nice to have a good ranking event again, though not one of the top events. For me it will be very interesting to see how Ding and Selby respond to their weak first half of the season. Also with the quite thin field .....

Well, I had been thinking of popping over for a visit to one of the semi-finals (only 2-3 hours by train from here), but the field's been decimated even further with the early exit of Mark Allen ..... However, if a cracking semi should be in prospect maybe I'll give it another thought ....

Has anyone on the forum actually been to the German Masters before and has anything to report? Rolf Kalb's always going on about what a great atmosphere it is, but in view of one or two of the posts below maybe he's just trying to make it out to be something which isn't necessarily true.

[crocodile]

I actually don't like the setup very much either, but not for the same reason as Allen. My main problem is the atmosphere on the main table, which seems to be completely dead. It's so far away from the audience that I get the feeling no one is really watching it, everyone seems to be watching the table closest to them instead.

I've always thought it would be best to just remove the middle table from the arena and televise two outside tables instead. :smile:

Yes, this might indeed be another reason for me not to go there on Saturday ....

[Odrl]

Just to be clear, I've never actually been to the Tempodrom, so I can't really comment on what it would be like to be there in person. I'm sure the atmosphere will be fine for the semi-finals, since we're down to two tables at that point. :smile:

[JimMalone]

Yes, this might indeed be another reason for me not to go there on Saturday ....

Won't they change the setup for the semifinals?

[crocodile]

Just to be clear, I've never actually been to the Tempodrom, so I can't really comment on what it would be like to be there in person. I'm sure the atmosphere will be fine for the semi-finals, since we're down to two tables at that point. :smile:

Do you know at what time each of the semis is scheduled to start? Another thing - if Trump gets that far will he be in the early or the late one? If it's the first that'll be reason enough for me to steer clear of Berlin at all costs ....

[JimMalone]

Rolf Kalb's always going on about what a great atmosphere it is, but in view of one or two of the posts below maybe he's just trying to make it out to be something which isn't necessarily true.

Not sure if he is the most objective person towards this tournament as a) this is his home event; b) Eurosport is a sponsor of this event and c) Rolf is even the Master of Ceremony there (or at least was during the last years).

But I guess if you once want to see live snooker and you are only 2-3 hours away from Berlin the German Masters surely is a nice chance.