The first round of qualifiers for the German Masters 2019 was played over three days earlier this week. Among the “casualties” we have Ali Carter and Anthony Hamilton, two former German Masters Champions, Anthony McGill, Luca Brecel, Marco Fu, Daniel Wells who was semi-finalist last week in Belfast and Andrew Higginson.
Yesterday, the evening session saw the start of the last 64 qualifiers round.
Here are the reports by Worldsnooker
Judd Trump was off to a winning start with a 5-2 victory over Robbie Williams as the D88.com German Masters qualifiers got underway in Barnsley.
All players need to win two matches this week to make it to the final stages in Berlin (January 30 to February 3).
World number five Trump was the highest ranked player in action on day one and he fired breaks of 82 and 114 in a comfortable win over Williams. His next opponent will be Hammad Miah or Lukas Kleckers.
Ken Doherty beat Alan McManus 5-0 in a match between two players with a combined age of 96. Doherty, who turns 50 next year, made top breaks of 71 and 90 as he set up a match with Matthew Stevens. Welshman Stevens scored a 5-3 win over Luca Brecel.
Kyren Wilson came from 1-0 down to beat Ian Burns 5-1 with breaks of 76, 56, 64 and 75. Stephen Maguire top scored with 107 in a 5-3 defeat of Daniel Wells.
China’s Zhou Yuelong edged out Zhang Anda 5-4 to keep alive his hopes of a top 32 place on the one-year ranking list and a spot in the Coral World Grand Prix – for more about that race click here
Sam Craigie impressed in a 5-2 win over Ali Carter while Dominic Dale saw off Michael Holt 5-1 with runs of 54, 70, 64, 58 and 78.
Entry to watch the qualifiers at the Barnsley Metrodome is free and fans can gain access to the arena on a first-come-first-served basis.
Shaun Murphy made four century breaks in a 5-2 win over Martin O’Donnell in the first qualifying round of the D88.com German Masters in Barnsley on Wednesday.
All players need to win two matches this week to make it to the final stages in Berlin (January 30 to February 3).
Murphy enjoyed a welcome return to form at last week’s Scottish Open, reaching the final, and he showed his break-building class again with runs of 129, 103, 136 and 137 in a superb display against O’Donnell.
In the second round Murphy will face veteran Jimmy White, who beat Harvey Chandler 5-2 with a top break of 84.
Defending champion Mark Williams was pushed hard by China’s 17-year-old Fan Zhengyi, but pulled away from 3-3 to win 5-3 with breaks of 119 and 135 in the last two frames. Williams now plays Jak Jones.
Australia’s Neil Robertson needed just 65 minutes to beat Jamie Clarke 5-0, making top breaks of 66, 64 and 118. He now meets James Cahill.
China’s Ding Junhui fired runs of 59, 54, 63, 104 and 77 as he beat Nigel Bond 5-0 to set up a match with Kuldesh Johal.
Germany’s Lukas Kleckers moved within one win of qualifying for his home tournament with a 5-2 win over Hammad Miah. Kleckers will face Judd Trump with a place in Berlin at stake.
Gary Wilson beat Chen Zifan 5-4 with a top break of 120. As it stands, that result keeps Wilson in the the top 32 of the one-year ranking list in the race to qualify for the Coral World Grand Prix – for more on that story click here
Jordan Brown edged out Anthony McGill 5-4 with a top break of 109 while Barry Hawkins made a 143, the highest break of the tournament so far, during a 5-1 victory over Michael White.
Jack Lisowski top scored with 110 in a 5-1 win over Mark Joyce while Anthony Hamilton, who won this title in 2017, suffered a 5-1 defeat against Luo Honghao.
There was no report by Worldsnooker on the last 128, played on day 3, December 20, 2018.
Ronnie and Mark Allen, winners of the last two tournaments did not enter. This is always a difficult slot in the calendar. Players are tired, the environment in qualifiers in unappealing and the holidays are just around the corner. Moreover, as Rolf Kalb stressed on twitter, there are no held-over matches for this one, with the risk that the World Champion and the Defending Champion might not make it to Berlin. He will this time as it’s the same players, the one and only mark Williams.
But there were wildcards involved as well and both lost. If the idea is to promote local/European amateurs, this is not the way to do it.
One of the wildcards was young Ben Mertens. Ben is Belgian, he only turned 14 mid October and he is the reigning under-16 World amateur Champion.
He was pitted against Yuan Sijun, one of the best and most improved young Chinese players. Ben lost heavily. He’s never played in pro environment, and I’m not sure how often he has played on a star table. His father was full of praise for Yuan, but also said that Ben was a bit overawed, which surely isn’t surprising. He’s still only a child. Yuan BTW will be in Berlin, having beaten Noppon Saegkham yesterday evening.
Ronnie O'Sullivan 
These German Masters qualifiers probably seem a bit dull for the players after Glasgow and York (Barnsley is a very mundane venue). Most of them are drained after a long year and Christmas is almost here! However, for anyone outside the top-32, this will be their last game for 7 weeks unless they make it through to the Tempodrom, which isn’t easy as there are two matches to win. For some players, all that remains in their season will be the Welsh Open, China Open and World Championship. For the top players, their schedule will continue to be packed.
Amusing to see Ben Mertens was drawn against Yuan Sijun, who was himself a child prodigy not so long ago. Perhaps Ben can get his revenge in the World Championship final sometime in the 2030’s! I know what you mean about Ben Mertens and Richard Weinold, but there isn’t any other way to incorporate them with this draw format. At least this way they get to see first-hand what top-level competitive snooker is about. Whether it will continue with this format is open to question: I’ve always felt that the German Masters is a good candidate for an invitational event, as Shanghai and Ruhr have already become.
So far, the line-up for Berlin looks very interesting, so I’ve decided to go there in January! The table layout is very unusual, but it’s a very enjoyable event, and well-attended in the evenings.
Enjoy it Lewis! Berlin is a great city. If you haven’t already, try to stay a couple of days to visit it, it’s worth it. Just one thing, it’s likely to be extremely cold. The night Ronnie won it, in 2012, it was freezing at – 20°C …
Yes, I have been to Berlin a few times. Last time was 2 years ago, when Hamilton won, and Mark King beat Ronnie, much to the disappointment of the German crowd! I’ll do the 3 weekdays, do some touring in the mornings, then snooker at 2pm (a very civilised start-time!).