The 2025 German Masters got underway yesterday in Berlin. There had been some notable withdrawals ahead of the event and there was one more late minute one: Hossein Vafaei. WST didn’t give any reason for it but it could possibly be visa issues, it would not be the first time it happens either.
Anyway, here are WST reports on what happened yesterday on the baize in Berlin:
MACHINESEEKER GERMAN MASTERS – DAY ONE AFTERNOON
Neil Robertson celebrated being named on the Australia Day 2025 Honours List by thrashing tour rookie Antoni Kowalski 5-1 at the Machineseeker German Masters.
The Thunder from Down Under was awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) in the General Division on Sunday. Similar to the MBE, the OAM is the highest civilian honour that can be bestowed by the Australian government.
The 2010 World Champion is widely regarded as one of the greats of modern snooker and is by far and away Australia’s greatest ever player. However, despite winning the BetVictor English Open earlier this season, he has work to do to qualify automatically for April’s World Championship. He’s currently ranked 20th in the world with only the top 16 making it straight to the Crucible, which he failed to qualify for last year.
There are signs that his form is returning though having beaten John Higgins at the recent Masters in London, before bowing out against eventual winner Shaun Murphy. This afternoon’s encounter saw Robertson fire home breaks of 57, 57 and 102 on his way to victory. Next up he faces Hammad Miah, who scored a surprise 5-2 win over Chris Wakelin.
“I always hoped that one day I would receive this honour. I was never really sure if it would happen or not, but to get the email saying I was up for consideration made me excited. I hoped it would go through and when I found out the news that I was on the honours list it made me feel so proud. Definitely the proudest moment of my career for sure,” said Melbourne cueman Robertson.
“A lot of people know who I am in Australia, but snooker is such a tough sport to break through with there because we are so good at so many sports. Most of them are outdoor sports, it is tough to compete with those, but this is massive recognition for what I’ve done and hopefully it will encourage me to do greater things.“
Scotland’s 31-time ranking event winner Higgins secured his progression with a hard fought 5-3 defeat of Mark Davis.
Runs of 68, 91, 53, 70 and 124 helped the Glaswegian over the line today. However, his defeat at the hands of Robertson at the Masters saw him surrender a 5-1 lead to lose 6-5 and looking back, Higgins concedes that was a loss which hit him hard.
“This is a sport that has given me so much over the years but it begins to take your soul bit by bit. This has been a good sport for me, but as you fall down the rankings it can begin to take that bit of goodness. It is a brutal sport sometimes,” admitted Higgins.
“That was a good win today. Mark has always been really tough and given me some tough battles. It is always a good game when I play him and that was another one.“
World Champion Kyren Wilson recovered from his Masters final loss to beat Hong Kong’s Ka Wai Cheung 5-3, while former International Champion Zhang Anda beat Graeme Dott 5-4.
MACHINESEEKER GERMAN MASTERS – DAY ONE EVENING
Newly crowned Johnstone’s Paint Masters champion Shaun Murphy continued his red hot form with a 5-0 demolition of Liam Graham at the Machineseeker German Masters in Berlin.
Murphy claimed the Paul Hunter Trophy for the second time in his career, ten years on from his first, with victory at Alexandra Palace eight days ago. The Magician secured the title with a pulsating 10-7 win over World Champion Kyren Wilson in the final, having made a spellbinding 147 against Mark Allen in the semis.
Scotland’s Graham is currently engaged in a battle for tour survival, after getting himself back in the race to remain a professional with a run to the final of the 9Club Shoot Out before Christmas. However, he was powerless to further advance his position today, as Murphy blitzed for the line.
The Englishman composed breaks of 55, 79, 108 and 106 as he surged to victory. He now faces a mouth watering meeting with Thepchaiya Un-Nooh, who whitewashed Stuart Bingham 5-0.
Murphy said: “I’ve had just a couple of days off this week and really enjoyed the victory. Those Triple Crown wins don’t come around every year. However, I’ve just had a couple of days then straight back to work and put the hours in. I didn’t want to come here, after the Lord Mayor’s Show, to this venue that I love so much and lose. I’m delighted with the victory and now we march on.
“There is a difference between people who win an event from time to time and players you talk about for a long time. If my career ended today then I would be very proud of what I’ve achieved in the sport but I feel I have plenty left in the tank and I’m going to try and wring every last drop out of it.“
World number one and defending champion Judd Trump prevailed 5-2 in a hard fought contest with David Grace.
Trump defeated Si Jiahui in last year’s title match to capture the trophy for a third time. His next opponent this week will be Joe O’Connor, who scored an impressive 5-1 win over Stephen Maguire.
Ben Woollaston top scored with 120 in a blistering 5-0 defeat of David Gilbert, while Barry Hawkins came through 5-4 against Alfie Burden.
I can’t comment. I saw nothing of it, not a single ball. For most of the time I was working for snooker.org, “marking” the scores of the WSF championship that is currently underway in Morocco. It’s a huge amateur event . No less than 64 matches were played yesterday only. There is one tour card to be earned and there are quite a number of ex-pros in the draw. Two table are streamed on YouTube. It runs until coming Saturday.
Ronnie O'Sullivan 