The third and last day of the 2021 German Masters Qualifiers produced two very unexpected results as Mark Selby and Neil Robertson were both beaten, by Fergal O’Brien and Ben Woollaston respectively.

This is the report by WST, currently not covering the evening session.

O’Brien Stuns Selby

Ireland’s Fergal O’Brien produced a fine performance to beat Mark Selby 5-3 at BetVictor German Masters qualifying in Milton Keynes.

World number 124 O’Brien only remained on the tour this year by virtue of his performance on the one-year list last season and came into today’s game having not secured a match win this term. However, the 1999 British Open champion put on an assured display to see off Selby.

It’s a disappointing defeat for world number four Selby, who has enjoyed a strong start to the season after claiming the BetVictor European Masters title in September.

O’Brien fired in breaks of 56, 83, 62, 67, 85 and 57 on his way to this afternoon’s win. He now faces Germany’s Simon Lichtenberg for a place in the final stages.

Last week’s Champion of Champions winner Mark Allen continued his strong form with a 5-1 defeat of China’s Gao Yang.

The Northern Irishman composed runs of 126, 95 and 70 to brush aside his opponent this afternoon. Allen will play Pang Junxu up next.

Nigel Bond secured a shock 5-2 defeat of four-time ranking event winner Ali Carter. Former Crucible finalist Bond, 54, rolled back the years to book an encounter with Louis Heathcote in the final qualifying round.

Mark Joyce beat Thai number one Thepchaiya Un Nooh 5-4, while Peter Devlin came through a 5-3 victor against Ukraine’s Iulian Boiko.

Fergal had not beaten Mark since 2006 … In his postmatch, Fergal said that he has been in Northern Ireland in recent weeks, practicing with Mark Allen and Jordan Brown and that it has helped him massively. He looks as sharp as he has been for a long time.

Here is Fergal’s interview with WST:

Nigel Bond should seriously consider the musical theme of “Die another day” as his walk on music… he’s hard to watch most of the time, but I can’t help but admire him.

In the evening Ben Wollaston beat Neil Robertson by 5-4, in a high quality match that featured 8 breaks over 50. It seems that, slowly, Ben is getting back to the type of form that brought him to the 2015 Welsh Open final, and that’s good news.

Noppon Saengkham, who recently started working with Sightright, also showed signs of a return to form. He beat Oliver Lines by 5-2, scoring breaks of 62, 61, 70 and 54 in the process.

Simon Lichtenberg, who beat Amine Amiri by 5-1, is the only German / German speaking player left in the draw. Lukas Kleckers was whitewashed by Zhou Yuelong and Alexander Ursenbacker lost by 5-2 to Pang Junxu. Pang is not the most spectacular player, but he looks solid.

One last thing …

This tweet by Willo may explain a number of bizarre results in the past days and, also possibly in the coming weeks. Apparently there are not enough practice tables available to players in Milton Keynes and, as a result, players have only limited time for practice and only on the day they actually play. Of course, other than the space needed to install enough tables, there is also the constraint that they need to be sanitised, as well as all the “attached” equipment (balls, rests, spider etc…), after each practice session. As tournaments follow each other, week in week out, in Milton Keynes, and with travel restrictions in place, players who live far away from the venue are likely to stay in the area with very few opportunities to practice at all.

Today will see the conclusion of the last 128 round of this season German Masters. We have some interesting clashes between young players on the morning menu:

• Pang Junxu v Alex Ursenbacher
• Zhou Yuelong v Lukas Kleckers
• Peter Devlin v Iulian Boiko

Before we enjoy that let’s have a look at what happened over the last two days.

Tuesday – WST report:

Ding Through In Milton Keynes

Ding Junhui produced a battling display to beat Martin Gould 5-3 in a high quality clash at BetVictor German Masters qualifying in Milton Keynes.

Today’s match was a meeting between two former winners of the event. Ding lifted the trophy in 2014 when he defeated Judd Trump in the final, while Gould secured his only ranking title to date with a memorable defeat of Luca Brecel in 2016.

China’s number one Ding, who will begin the defence of his UK Championship crown later this month, took the opener with a break of 52. However, Gould hit back with consecutive runs of 125 and 98 to move 2-1 ahead.

Ding restored parity with a contribution of 73, before a break of 110 saw him edge back ahead. Gould drew level at 3-3, but from there Ding charged to the line. Breaks of 77 and 80 saw him move one win away from the final stages. Ding will face Ashley Carty in the last qualifying round on Friday.

Defending champion and world number one Judd Trump progressed with a 5-2 win over 2017 German Masters winner Anthony Hamilton.  The Ace in the Pack top scored with a break of 100 and faces Peter Lines in the next round.

Amateur Paul Davison stunned former German Masters winner Mark Williams to progress with a 5-4 win.

Davison, 47, has spent 20 seasons as a professional throughout his career, but has never been beyond the last 16 of a ranking event. However, he only trailed three-time World Champion Williams once in today’s contest. Davison’s next opponent will be Ryan Day.

Chinese 17-year-old Lei Peifan came from behind and beat former Crucible semi-finalist Gary Wilson 5-4. Lei had trailed 3-1, but composed breaks of 88, 112, 62 and 58 to win four of the next five frames and seal his progression. He’ll play Duane Jones in the final round, who defeated Allan Taylor 5-4.

Shaun Murphy fired in the sixth 147 break of his career in beating Chen Zifan 5-0. The magic break came in the second frame of the match and puts him in line for the £5,000 high break prize. Murphy faces Ian Burns up next.

Alan McManus set up an all-Scottish clash in the final qualifying round after beating Barry Pinches 5-2. He’ll now face Stephen Maguire, who received a bye after Rod Lawler was forced to withdraw.

There was an incident in the deciding frame of the Mark Williams  v Paul Davison match. Williams had snookered Davison behind the yellow. Davison was leading by 57-44 with one red left on the table. Davison, escaping from the snooker, hit the red , and snookered Williams in the process. Mark immediately reacted, claiming that his opponent had hit the yellow whilst playing the escape. The referree, Desislava Bozhilova, who was standing near the top of the table, didn’t see it, and didn’t call a foul. Paul Davison didn’t own to it either.

You can watch the incident here

It’s hard to tell. Enlarging the image makes it quite blurry but it seems indeed that Willo was right. If so, he had every reason to be fuming on social media later because he should have been awarded a free ball and would very likely have won the match from there.

Mark Williams is not the kind to dwell on such things for long. Having got it out of his system, he promptly turned his attention to the prospect of playing golf, claiming that he wasn’t playing well enough anyway.

Paul Davison however was branded a “a cheat” on social media, and Desislava “incompetetent”. Desi was standing at the other side of the table, her attention on the red that Paul needed to hit. If the yellow did move, it was very little and in her direction, therefore not easy to spot from where she was. On the side tables I don’t think referees have any access to the footage to possibly check. Did Paul “surely” feel the contact? Well, I’m not so “sure” because, if there was a contact, it was a “brush” more than a “hit”,  his attention was on hitting the red … and this was a deciding frame, with all the pressure that comes with the situation.

Tuesday – Shaun Murphy makes a maximum

Magician Conjures 147

Tuesday 10 Nov 2020 08:12PM

Shaun Murphy made the sixth maximum break of his career during his opening match at the BetVictor German Masters qualifiers in Milton Keynes.

Murphy’s perfect break came in the second frame of his match against Chen Zifan. He joins Ding Junhui and Stuart Bingham on six career 147s, and only three players have made more: Ronnie O’Sullivan (15), John Higgins (11) and Stephen Hendry (11).

World number six Murphy is in line for the tournament high break prize of £5,000, having made his first 147 since 2016.

It’s the third maximum break of the season, following 147s from Ryan Day and John Higgins, and 160th in snooker history.

You can watch it here:

There are some great shots in there.

Wednesday – Tian Pengfei tests positive to Covid-19

Tian Pengfei Tests Positive For Covid-19

Tian Pengfei has tested positive for Covid-19 upon arrival at snooker’s BetVictor German Masters qualifiers in Milton Keynes and has been withdrawn from the event.

Tian was due to play Ashley Hugill on Wednesday evening, so Hugill receives a bye to the second round of the world ranking event.

All other players and officials tested at the event so far have had negative results.

Tian will now undergo a period of self isolation and will receive the support of WST. He will also be withdrawn from next week’s Northern Ireland Open at the same venue. He was due to play Noppon Saengkham in the first round of that event so Saengkham receives a bye to round two.

Since WST events restarted in June, strict Covid-19 regulations have been and continue to be followed, under UK Government guidance.

Wednesday – WST report

Wednesday 11 Nov 2020 05:46PM

World number five Kyren Wilson swept to a 5-0 win over Zak Surety at BetVictor German Masters qualifying in Milton Keynes.

Wilson won the German Masters in 2019, beating David Gilbert 9-7 in the final to claim the third of his four career ranking titles.

The Warrior wasted little time in seeing off Surety today. He opened the match with consecutive breaks of 126 and 124, before securing the remaining three frames to win in just one and a quarter hours.

Chinese 20-year-old Yuan Sijun recorded a surprise 5-2 defeat of world number 12 David Gilbert. He will now face Jimmy Robertson, who beat Malta’s Alex Borg 5-1, for a place in the final stages.

Liang Wenbo secured a 5-2 defeat of 1997 World Champion Ken Doherty. The Firecracker made breaks of 88 and 51 on his way to victory and will play Irish teenager Aaron Hill up next.

Sam Craigie recorded an impressive 5-4 defeat of Yan Bingtao, while Anthony McGill emerged a 5-3 victor against Zhao Jianbo.

Other results worth noting are:

Robbie Williams beat Florian Nüßle by 5-4 in a hard fought match that went to the last black. It’s a shame for the young Austrian Champion. He’s only 18 but he is already a very good hard match player.

Jak Jones beat Si Jiahui, by 5-3, in a match that finished about an hour later than any other match in that session. Jak’s AST is nearly 32 seconds and it was even longer at some points earlier in the match. Just as well that he won the last frame in one visit with a 97…

Mark Allen beat Neil Robertson by 10-6 to win the 2020 Champion of Champions. Five years ago, the two of them had met in the Champion of Champion Final and Neil had prevailed by 10-5. This time Mark was too strong for him.

Mark Allen certainly didn’t have an easy path to the title: he beat Ronnie, the World Champion and World number two, in the QF, Judd Trump, the World number one, in the SF and Neil, the defending Champion and World number three, for the title.

Congratulations Mark Allen!

These are the reports by WST.

Afternoon session

Sunday 8 Nov 2020 05:00PM

Mark Allen edged to a 5-4 lead over defending champion Neil Robertson after an enthralling opening session of the 888sport Champion of Champions final in Milton Keynes.

The clash is a repeat of the 2015 Champion of Champions final, which saw Robertson emerge a 10-5 victor. However, the Australian will have to come from behind to secure the title this year.

The high quality afternoon session saw both players produce a barrage of breaks. Northern Irishman Allen opened proceedings with a contribution of 101, before Robertson replied immediately with a fine run of 121 to draw level at 1-1. Allen then claimed the following two frames to head into the mid-session 3-1 ahead.

Robertson pulled within a frame upon the resumption, before Allen restored his two-frame cushion with a break of 110. However, Robertson produced back-to-back century runs of 108 and 109 to restore parity at 4-4. Allen then took the last of the afternoon to secure his one frame advantage.

They will return at 7pm to play the best of 19 encounter to a finish, with the winner picking up the £150,000 top prize.

Evening session:

Sunday 8 Nov 2020 09:28PM

Mark Allen defeated Neil Robertson 10-6 to win his first 888sport Champion of Champions title at Marshall Arena, Milton Keynes on Sunday night, live on ITV4.

Having already knocked out World Champion Ronnie O’Sullivan and world number one Judd Trump, Allen’s task in the final was to overhaul defending champion Robertson in what was a re-run of the 2015 conclusion of this event.

Allen’s last tournament win was almost two years ago at the Scottish Open, but he ended that drought in style, collecting the £150,000 top prize with a confident victory over Robertson at the end of a week of the highest-quality snooker.

“Beating the world number one, two and three in succession to win a big tournament like this, it’s what we play for,” said Allen. “A few splits here and there and that could have been a lot closer, because Neil didn’t look like missing when he was in.

“My safety was pretty good all day and I feel like I played pretty well. Guys like Neil, Ronnie, Judd and Selby, they make winning look easy and it’s not. I work really, really hard on the practice table and if I can pick up a tournament or two every season or every other season, I feel like I am doing well because the standard is that good.

“I could have been beaten first round against Scott Donaldson, I was a few balls away from losing that match 4-2. I did what Stephen Maguire did at the Tour Championship; I didn’t feel I deserved to be here but I took full advantage by going on to win.

“My dad will definitely be watching. I don’t think he has stopped smiling since I won the Masters so this is like a new smile for him. He’s a very proud father and I’m a very proud son, so this is for him but it’s also for a lot of people who support me along the way.”

Robertson commented: “His safety play was very solid throughout the whole match. My safety against Selby in the semis was fantastic and today it wasn’t anywhere near those levels unfortunately. My scoring was very good throughout the match but I could have done better with some of my safeties and Mark capitalised and he thoroughly deserved to win the match. He played a brilliant match throughout and he has beaten some great players on the way to winning it, like I did last year.”

Allen had laid down a marker in the very first frame, firing in a 102. Robertson was equal to it though and responded with a 121 to level. Allen opened up a 3-1 lead by the interval of the afternoon session and the first two frames after the break were shared, leaving Allen 4-2 ahead.

Robertson hit back strongly, though, with century breaks of 108 and 109 to draw level. The ninth and final frame of the first session went the way of the Northern Irishman, who made a 67 to take a slender lead into the evening.

Allen again opened up a two-frame lead early in the concluding session, but the Northern Irishman missed a yellow to allow Robertson in and when it had looked like Allen would take a three-frame lead into the mid-session, he instead saw his lead reduced to 7-6.

However, a 119 in the next re-established Allen’s cushion and he was now as close to the title as he was ahead of his opponent. He moved to within one of the title in the next frame and completed the victory with a 105 in the 16^th frame.

I only watched the second session, so my assesment might not be correct, but, from what I saw, of the three top seeds, it was Ronnie who actually gave Mark the sternest test. Until the “incident” in the last frame, the match had been very close. In the SF, Mark totally outplayed Judd Trump. In the last session of the final, Mark always looked in control against Neil.

Regarding the incident, Ronnie did apologise to Mark shortly after their match.

…

‘Ronnie actually text me last night just to apologise, “let’s move on” type thing. Hopefully we can all do that now.’

…

The two of them are good friends so I’m not surprised. The way Ronnie reacted, during the match, wasn’t good. It made for bad viewing, and it cost him his concentration. He should have had a quite word with the referee, or maybe even with Mark, well before his frustration over-boiled. But, factually, he was right and I wonder if Mark will ever go back to that match, watch the footage, and apologise to Ronnie as well.

Mark Allen completely outplayed Judd Trump yesterday evening, to earn his spot in the Final today. He will play Neil Robertson over best of 19.

Here is WST report:

Trump Loses – By A Lot

Mark Allen stunned Judd Trump with an emphatic 6-1 semi-final victory to advance to the 888sport Champion of Champions final, where he’ll meet Neil Robertson on Sunday, live on ITV4 at the Marshall Arena, Milton Keynes.

Allen had defeated World Champion Ronnie O’Sullivan to reach the last four and came out firing against Trump with a 102 to set the tone. The second frame was closer but after a re-rack Allen made a break of 48 for a 2-0 lead, which he doubled before the interval.

World number one Trump didn’t get on the board until the sixth frame, but by then there was too much work left to be done and Antrim potter Allen completed a 6-1 win in the very next frame.

“I’m very, very happy,” said Allen. “It was a completely different performance from the O’Sullivan match but it had to be, because I’m not going to out-pot Judd over distance. I had to make sure I kept it tight and make it really tough for him. He is world number one by a mile so I knew I had to do something different to beat him.

“Judd is capable of getting on a run and scoring heavy and fast; 5-0 can turn to 5-3, 5-4 very quickly, so to take advantage of the tight frames was a big bonus because they can swing a match and on another day that match is 3-2 after five frames. I played some good safety towards the end of frames and pulled away to 5-0.

“Neil showed in his semi-final against Selby just how good he is capable of playing and I will need to be at my very, very best, better than I was tonight. It is going to be a tough final but I have beaten him before and I will fancy my chances tomorrow.”

Trump, whose £30,000 semi-finalist prize money carries his career earnings above £6million, said: “It was a struggle. The first two frames could go either way but after that I missed a lot of balls. He played well and towards the end I tried to stick in there but was a bit unlucky, nothing was really going my way. It was one of those days, I was too slow out of the blocks.”

Allen took the opening frame with a 102, made after a fluked red when he went into the pack. Scoring wasn’t heavy in the frames that followed, but Allen made the contributions which mattered to lead 3-0.

Trump was looking for two snookers at the end of the fourth frame. He got one but couldn’t find the other, and when Allen potted the blue, the Pistol had a 4-0 mid-session lead.

The break didn’t halt Allen, who made a 66 in the first frame back to move to within a frame of the final. Trump fought back with an 80 to get on the board at 5-1 but it was too late for a fightback, and Allen closed out the match when he took the seventh frame on the pink.

Allen will meet Robertson in a repeat of the 2015 final over 19 frames on Sunday. The first session begins at 1pm, live on ITV4.

SEMI-FINAL
Judd Trump 1–6 Mark Allen
24-102 (102), 40-65, 20-56, 49-82 (65), 14-67 (66), 95-5 (80), 64-78 (67)

For ounce WST “title pun” made me genuinely smile.

I haven’t watched the match yet, I’ll try to find a footage today, but I’m happy that Allen backed his victory over Ronnie with this one. Going by the scores, Judd offered significantly less resistance that Ronnie… and couldn’t help but mention bad luck.

I have no problem with my favourite player/sportsperson losing, that’s part of any sport, but it always annoys me when an opponent produces a one-off stunning performance to kick  them out of a competition only to lose with an indifferent display at the next stage.

We indeed have a repeat of the 2015 Final, but i would be surprised if it was as one-sided today as it was five years ago; it ened on a 10-5 score in favour of Neil that time. If Allen were to lose heavily today, he should seriously consider to work on his fitness. It’s been the story of last season: he regularly made it to semi-finals, and seemed to have little left in the tank by that stage. It surely isn’t because a lack of bottle or motivation. Snooker may not be the most physical of sports, players still need to be reasonably fit to perform at the highest level particularly in multi-session matches.

Neil Robertson title defence continues as he beat Mark Selby by 6-5 to book his place in the final. It was a match of exceptional quality.

Here is WST report:

Friday 6 Nov 2020 11:24PM

Defending champion Neil Robertson beat Mark Selby 6-5 in a high-quality semi-final which will go down as an all-time classic to reach Sunday’s final of the 888sport Champion of Champions at Marshall Arena, Milton Keynes, live on ITV4.

The standard was exceptional and the six centuries made between Selby and Robertson equalled the record for a best of 11, set by Robertson and Judd Trump at the 2016 Masters. ITV4 pundits Stephen Hendry and Ken Doherty agreed it was the best 11-frame match they had ever witnessed.

Nothing could split Selby and Robertson over the first ten frames; the Jester From Leicester led four times until his opponent pulled in front for the first time at 5-4. The world number four responded to force the decider but Robertson’s title defence will now continue against either Trump or Mark Allen after it was the Thunder From Down Under who took the final frame, with a match-winning break of 54.

“It was a brilliant match to be a part of,” said Robertson. “I think both of us really enjoyed being out there, playing like that and I think we both brought the best out of each other. I can’t really think of anything I missed and the centuries Mark was making were off really good long pots or fantastic safety shots to create chances.

“If I lost the decider with only really missing two balls in the match, it would have been harsh but what a match. The Rasson tables have played amazing well, really fast, it bounces off the cushions perfectly and it’s really good to score on. The real winner is the fans, everyone watching at home, because they’ve seen some really good snooker this week.

“Not many players have won this event. You have to beat the very best players in the world and it is going to require an equally impressive performance as what I gave today to lift the trophy.”

There was nothing to split Robertson and Selby at the mid-session; the Australian making his 23^rd century of the season with a 100 to make it 2-2 at the break. Selby opened the second part of the match with a faultless 131 to take the lead for the third time in the match.

Robertson levelled again, but again his opponent moved ahead, this time with a 137. The defending champion wasn’t to be outdone though and produced a great 141 to level again; the match now reduced to a best of three.

The ninth frame was the one in which Robertson was finally able to move ahead as he produced a 121, but Selby forced the decider with a 137. The century tally was now at six in the last seven frames.

The decider was the longest frame of a pulsating match and it was Robertson who broke through, winning with a 54.

The second semi-final of the 888sport Champion of Champions takes place on Saturday as World No.1 Judd Trump faces Mark Allen over 11 frames from 6:45pm, live on ITV4.

And here are the scores … impressive!

I would love to see Neil lift the trophy again tomorrow.