The round of 32 of the 2023 German Masters was played at the Tempodrom in Berlin on Wednesday and yesterday morning and afternoon. All the results are available on snooker.org. The round of 16 started yesterday evening.
Four players got a bye to the round of 16, because their Chinese opponents are suspended.
Jimmy White thrashed Peng Yisong 5-1 to make the last 16 of the BetVictor German Masters in Berlin and set up a mouth-watering clash with Jack Lisowski.
London’s legendary 10-time ranking event winner White is enjoying a strong season, having come through four rounds of qualifying to make the final stages of the UK Championship before Christmas. He’s also already earned a spot in the final stages of the upcoming BetVictor Welsh Open.
Victory sees 60-year old White become the first player of his age to reach the last 16 of a ranking event since Eddie Charlton at the 1992 British Open, an event which White won.
White composed breaks of 55, 82, 63, 50 and 70 on his way to victory and is relishing tomorrow evening’s meeting with Lisowski.
“I’m really looking forward to it. I love Jack’s style of play. He is fantastic to watch. This is the perfect arena for me to face a young gun like Jack,” said world number 88 White.
“I’ve got my son working with me full time now. He is enthusiastic like me, so the table is brushed and ironed and I make sure I’m doing my two to four hours of practice. I’m practising different parts of the game, including safety play. I didn’t previously do too much of that. I’m really enjoying playing and I’m really enjoying competing.”
World number 12 Lisowski wasted little time in securing his last 16 berth, after storming to a 5-0 whitewash win over China’s Zhang Anda.
Lisowski, 31, is still searching for his maiden major silverware, but has been pushing hard for the breakthrough this season. The six-time ranking event finalist made the semis at the UK Championship and the Masters, but was beaten by Mark Allen and Mark Williams respectively. He also narrowly lost out to Allen 5-4 in the quarters at the recent World Grand Prix.
The Englishman composed breaks of 61, 117 and 87 this afternoon on his way to a quickfire victory, which lasted just one hour and 19 minutes.
Lisowski said: “Jimmy is one of the biggest legends of the game. It is so good to see him doing well. There are a lot of people who watch him that don’t even like snooker, they are just Jimmy White fans. He is great for the game and it will be a special occasion to play him out there.”
Kyren Wilson kept his hopes of moving to the top of the BetVictor Series rankings alive, with a 5-2 win over Sam Craigie.
Whoever earns the most prize money across the qualifying events will pick up a bumper £150,000 bonus and there is just this week and the BetVictor Welsh Open left to play. Wilson is currently in third place behind Mark Selby and Mark Allen, who didn’t qualify for Berlin.
The Warrior top scored with 82 in today’s win and now faces Jimmy Robertson for a place in the quarter-finals.
Elliot Slessor defeated Joe O’Connor 5-2 to earn his last 16 spot, his next opponent is Xiao Guodong who defeated Fan Zhengyi 5-4.
It would be easy to downplay Jimmy White’s win over Peng Ysong, who is a 21 years old rookie, but that would be unfair to both. Peng started the season slowly: his first win came at the 2022 UK Championship but since he has won 6 of the 9 matches he has played, and he was the one who denied Mark Selby as he beat him by 5-4 in the first round of qualifiers for the 2023 German Masters. The truth is that Jimmy played really well in this match.
Neil Robertson battled from 3-1 down to beat close friend Joe Perry 5-3 and keep his hopes of lifting the Brandon Parker Trophy for the first time alive at the BetVictor German Masters in Berlin.
It’s the third time this season that Australia’s Robertson has faced his Cambridge based practice partner Perry. He fell short at the UK Championship in a surprise 6-2 reverse. However, the 23-time ranking event winner had his revenge at the Scottish Open, when he won 4-1.
Robertson made the final here at the Tempodrom back in 2020, where he was up against Judd Trump. The pair contested a fiercely fought clash, but it was Trump who prevailed by a 9-6 scoreline. Robertson is yet to go all the way and capture the title.
The Thunder from Down Under also has work to do if he is to earn a place to defend his title at the upcoming Players Championship. Robertson came into this week in 18th spot on the one-year list, but must move into the top 16 to qualify for the elite event. He now faces qualification rival Chris Wakelin in the last 16. Wakelin won the BetVictor Shoot Out on Saturday and defeated Si Jiahui 5-4 earlier today.
It was BetVictor Welsh Open champion Perry who made the early running this afternoon. Breaks of 67, 54 and 65 helped him into a 3-1 lead at the mid-session interval.
Robertson took the first two when play resumed to restore parity and then embarked on a 147 attempt in the seventh. His run ended on 96 but it moved him a frame from victory at 4-3. The Melbourne cueman charged over the line with a fine break of 118.
Robertson said: “You’d think it would give you a good advantage playing against a friend, but in the first frame I left him a long red he never normally goes for. He absolutely nailed it and I thought he never usually goes for for that! In seriousness, you are generally competing against top players all the time anyway and the secrets aren’t there like they used to be 20 years ago when we didn’t play in many events. It was a really good match.
“It is an event I’ve not won and the motivation is always high when I’m here. It is hard to qualify for this, coming through two games straight after the UK Championship. It is tough to get here, but once you are it is a brilliant venue and amazing to play in. Hopefully I can have a good run and give myself a chance of winning.”
World number 12 Jack Lisowski came through a tense encounter with boyhood hero Jimmy White 5-2.
At 60-years old , White has become the first player of his age to appear in the last 16 of a ranking event since 1992. However, 31-year-old Lisowski wasn’t in a sentimental mood this evening.The six-time ranking event finalist is hunting down maiden professional silverware and now faces Xiao Guodong in the quarters.
Lisowski said: “I can’t really celebrate beating him. I think he put me under a lot of pressure at the start. He could have gone 3-1 up at the interval, but getting out at 2-2 kept me in the game and I was lucky to survive that fourth frame.”
Louis Heathcote came from 3-0 down to score a huge 5-4 win over Cao Yupeng. World number 84 Heathcote is battling for his tour survival and made breaks of 51, 83, 114, 71, 57 and 53 en route to the victory. He plays Ali Carter in the last 16 tomorrow.
Kyren Wilson strengthened his position in the BetVictor Series with a 5-2 win over Jimmy Robertson. Wilson is taking advantage of Mark Allen and Mark Selby’s failure to qualify. There is just the BetVictor Welsh Open to play after this week, with the player who accumulates the most prize money over the qualifying events scooping a bumper £150,000 bonus.
Wilson plays Tom Ford in the last eight, after the Leicester cueman defeated Tian Pengfei 5-3.
Jack probably can’t celebrate because he knows how remarkable the recent achievements of his 60 years old opponent are. Towards the end of the match, Jimmy lost his concentration a bit and looked tired. Despite the defeat, the Tempodrom crowd gave him a warm ovation as he was leaving the arena.
2023 Asia-Pacific Women Snooker Championship
“Ploy” won an all Thai final to seal her first WSS title yesterday in Sidney.Congratulations!
Ploychompoo Laokiatphong has defeated Siripaporn Nuanthakhamjan 4-1 to win her first ranking event title at the Asia-Pacific Women’s Snooker Championship at the Mounties Club in Sydney, Australia.
The 20-year-old Thai player enjoyed her breakthrough weekend at the tournament as she improved upon three previous semi-final appearances to become the latest first-time champion on the World Women’s Snooker (WWS) Tour.
The victory will see Laokiatphong equal her career-best world ranking of number seven and she also becomes the first player ever to win both a main ranking tournament and the Under-21 tournament at the same ranking event, after she claimed her latest junior title later in the day.
She was presented with the trophy by The Hon. Dai Le, Federal MP for Fowler who was visiting the final of the tournament, and Frank Dewens of the Asia-Pacific Snooker and Billiards Federation.
Competing in Australia for the first time, Laokiatphong came through her group in second place following a narrow defeat to Man Yan So of Hong Kong, before she recorded a 3-0 success against India’s Natasha Chethan to reach the last eight stage.
There she would face reigning world champion and incoming world number one Mink Nutcharut and it was Laokiatphong who pot a tricky pink to middle pocket to emerge from a dramatic deciding-frame to secure a career-best match win. Victory against 14-year-old Australian prodigy Lilly Meldrum – who herself had scored a notable success against compatriot Jessica Woods in the previous round – would take Laokiatphong into her maiden ranking event final.
Awaiting her would be fellow Thai player Siripaporn Nuanthakhamjan – also known as Baipat – who had similarly enjoyed a standout victory against three-time world champion Ng On Yee in the quarter-finals, before she defeated a spirited Ho Yee Ki in the last four to also reach her first final.
It would be Laokiatphong who would make the stronger start as she dominated the opening frame, before adding the second on the black to move halfway to victory. The following two frames were shared as Nuanthakhamjan briefly threatened to fight back, only for Laokiatphong to control frame five and secure glory in Australia.
The victory represents a defining victory for a player who made her WWS Tour debut at the 2018 UK Championship, where she showcased her potential to the world as a 16-year-old with victory against world number four Rebecca Kenna. She has since established herself as the dominant Under-21 player on the circuit, winning eight junior tournaments including two Under-21 titles and has now added her name to an illustrious list of active players to lift ranking titles on the Tour.
The highest break of the tournament was a run of 114 compiled by Mink Nutcharut during the round robin group stage against Australia’s Linda Larrea.
Side-Tournaments
It was a double success for the 20-year-old after she defeated Indian debutant Natasha Chethan and Australian starlet Lilly Meldrum to win her latest Under-21 title in Australia. Set to turn 21 this summer, the Under-21 number one has just two more tournaments remaining as she bids to end her title as a junior on an unbeaten run since the start of 2022.
There was, however, success for Chethan in the Challenge Cup competition for players who did not qualify for the quarter-finals, after the 14-year-old defeated Yee Ting Cheung of Hong Kong 2-1 to claim silverware on her first Tour outing.
As always, World Women’s Snooker would like to thank everyone who has supported the tournament, including our host venue Mounties and the Asia-Pacific Snooker and Billiards Federation, who have successfully hosted another major event in Australia.
Mink and On Yee were the two “top”players in the draw but had traveled “last minute” from the the UK and I guess jet-lag tiredness “caught” them eventually.
Two 14 years old girls merit a special mention: in addition to competing in the main WSS event, and in the WSS Junior event, Natasha Chethan (India) and Lilly Meldrum (Australian) also competed in the 2023 WSF Junior Championship and both of them reached the knock-out stage in that event.
There is no doubt that Women Snooker is growing, it’s attracting more girls to the sport and the level is improving with every event.
2023 WSF Junior Championship
The event was won by Stan Moody who beat Liam Pullen by 5-1 in the final. Congratulations Stan Moody!
Stan Moody claimed the WSF Junior Championship in Sydney (Picture: Matt Huart/WSF)
16-year-old Stan Moody has booked his place on the World Snooker Tour for the next two seasons after winning the WSF Junior Championship in Sydney.
Moody beat fellow Yorkshire teenager Liam Pullen 5-1 in the final in Australia, claiming the trophy and the coveted spot on the professional circuit, which he will join next season.
It was a pretty comfortable win in the final thanks to a fine performance from Moody, after he had been pushed hard in the semi-finals.
The English youngster came through a deciding frame to beat Ukrainian star Iulian Boiko 4-3, thanks to a break of 68 in the final frame.
Boiko, still only 17, has already spent two years on the professional circuit and is pushing for a return.
Pullen enjoyed a great run to the final, beating something of a surprise package in Latvia’s Filips Kalnins in the semi-finals, but couldn’t find his best stuff against Moody.
There were also runs to the quarters for bright prospects Liam Davies, Nattanapong Chaikul, Jake Crofts and Zac Cosker.
In the open event, there was encouragingly also two girls in the last 16, with 14-year-olds Natasha Chethan and Lilly Meldrum impressing to reach that stage
But it was Moody who triumphed and will get a crack at the professional circuit from next season, and most likely a shot at World Championship qualifying at the end of the current campaign.
While the amateur picks for World Championship qualifying have not been announced yet, the four semi-finalists in the WSF Junior Championship last year got a shot at the big one in Sheffield, so it would be a surprise not to see at least Moody and Pullen there this time around.
Liam Davies made it to Sheffield thanks to a semi-final run last year and then became the youngest player ever to win a match in the World Championship, beating Aaron Hill, then following that up by downing Fergal O’Brien before narrowly losing to Jordan Brown.
Moody has already won a match on the professional circuit as well, memorably beating Lu Ning on his debut in the Shoot Out last year and we will see plenty more of him in the months to come.
The youngster has already been garnering plenty of help from professionals, with former world champion Shaun Murphy helping to mentor him, while he practices with pros at Levels in Huddersfield, including former Welsh Open champion Jordan Brown.
The very reason why I mention the player last lost(in 32 spot against suspended) is the he/she at least did win one time getting the 64 spot.
(The fairest method should a rematch between the 2 players who the suspended player had affected, but considering the cost……)
Um… seeing quite a lot player suspended after qualifiers, the player last lost to suspended should be given/offered a chance to play, rather than walk over.
(given there is still time between suspension statement and the tournament- and most important, they did not appeal to the suspension decision)
I agree but it’s difficult for this one. The suspended players has already won two qualifying matches. You can’t just propel someone in the last 32 like that.
Ronnie O'Sullivan 
The very reason why I mention the player last lost(in 32 spot against suspended) is the he/she at least did win one time getting the 64 spot.
(The fairest method should a rematch between the 2 players who the suspended player had affected, but considering the cost……)
Um… seeing quite a lot player suspended after qualifiers, the player last lost to suspended should be given/offered a chance to play, rather than walk over.
(given there is still time between suspension statement and the tournament- and most important, they did not appeal to the suspension decision)
I agree but it’s difficult for this one. The suspended players has already won two qualifying matches. You can’t just propel someone in the last 32 like that.