The quarter-finals at the 2025 German Masters really delivered. With the week-en approaching, the Tempodrom welcomed more fans, and the big crowd appeared to truly inspire the players.
World Champion Kyren Wilson overcame familiar foe Anthony McGill 5-4 to make the semi-finals of the Machineseeker German Masters at the Tempodrom in Berlin.
Wilson and McGill crossed cues in an epic 2020 World Championship semi-final, where the Warrior prevailed 17-16 after a marathon deciding frame, which lasted over an hour. Wilson has now won all four of their subsequent meetings.
Victory sees the Crucible king progress to the semi-finals, where he faces Xiao Guodong. Wilson is enjoying a fine first campaign as World Champion, having picked up silverware at the BetVictor Northern Ireland Open and the Xi’an Grand Prix. He will be hoping to add to that with the second German Masters crown of his career this weekend.
It was world number 40 McGill who was in control for much of today’s match. After taking a tightly contested first two frames, he looked to be in control of the third before missing a straightforward red leading 60-6. Wilson ruthlessly hammered home a break of 68 in response to steal on the black. However, McGill was undeterred and made a sublime 134 in the next to lead 3-1 at the mid-session.
Wilson responded when play resumed by claiming two on the bounce to restore parity at 3-3. The next two frames were traded to set up a decider, where Wilson made a match winning 72 to book his place in the last four.
“It always seems to be a really close match when we play, it doesn’t matter what tournament. Anthony is such a good competitor and match player, I know I just have to dig in. I know he will make it really tough for me. I’m proud of that break in the deciding frame because that took a lot of bottle,” said 33-year-old Wilson.
“It’s a shame how the World Championship semi-final ended because people forget how good that game was. It was so draining. I feel like we have held each other in really high regard after that and I would love to see him go on and kick on now because he is so good.
“All the players that come here want to make the semi-finals. It is magical. I was desperate to get over the line in that match and be a part of semi-final Saturday. I’m looking forward to taking on Xiao in front of a packed out crowd.“
China’s Xiao has been in red hot form this season and produced another clinical display to brush aside Irish 22-year-old Aaron Hill 5-0.
Victory this afternoon sees Xiao make his fifth semi-final of the campaign. He captured his maiden ranking title, 17 years on from first turning professional, at this season’s Wuhan Open. Xiao overcame compatriot Si Jiahui in Wuhan and has since gone on to make the title match of the Champion of Champions, where he was beaten by Mark Williams.
A fine week for Hill ends in defeat. He can take solace from wins over Williams, Jimmy Robertson and Tom Ford to make his second ranking quarter-final.
Xiao conjured contributions of 95, 75, 114 and 113 on his way to this afternoon’s win.
China’s Yuan Sijun is through to the second ranking event semi-final of his career after prevailing 5-4 over Neil Robertson at the Machineseeker German Masters in Berlin.
Yuan hasn’t made the final four of a ranking event since the Gibraltar Open in 2019, when he was whitewashed by Stuart Bingham. He will now face Englishman Barry Hawkins in front of a packed Tempodrom crowd of over 2,000 fans tomorrow evening.
It was a second consecutive decider for Yuan, who came through a nerve shredding encounter with recently crowned Masters champion Shaun Murphy 5-4 in the last 16.
Defeat ends 24-time ranking event winner Robertson’s quest for a maiden Berlin crown. He made the final in 2020, but was beaten by Judd Trump.
Breaks of 52, 100 and 75 helped Yuan to secure a 3-1 lead at the mid-session this evening. When play resumed Robertson took a tight fifth to reduce his arrears, but it was Yuan who claimed the sixth to move one from the win at 4-2.
Robertson kept in contention by winning the seventh, before a dramatic eighth. It came down to the colours, with Robertson clearing to steal on the black, after a stunning positional shot on the brown afforded him a route to the frame.
A nervy decider saw Yuan miss opportunities to put his opponent away, but a break of 57 eventually proved to be critical as he got over the line.
Hawkins earned his progression with a brilliant 5-3 win over the runner-up in this season’s English and Scottish Opens, Wu Yize.
The Hawk is set for a second ever appearance in the single table setup at the Tempodrom, having first made the semis in 2013.
The Englishman has enjoyed a strong season thus far, highlighted by a brilliant run to the final of the UK Championship before Christmas. On that occasion he was pipped 10-8 by Judd Trump, he will be hoping to go one step further and capture the title this weekend.
Breaks of 138, 73, 89 and 60 helped four-time ranking event winner Hawkins to victory this evening and he cannot wait to take to the baize in front of a packed Berlin crowd tomorrow.
Hawkins said: “I’m over the moon. Wu has been one of the players of the season. He is such a devastating long potter. There were hardly any balls missed. To play well and beat him is really pleasing.
“Even out there tonight, it was almost a full house. The atmosphere is amazing. To get through to the one table setup, after such a long time, is great. I’m really looking forward to it. The German fans are probably the best in the world. They are so enthusiastic and clap every shot. They love the game, so to walk out into that arena tomorrow will be great.”
It’s worth mentioning that Wu himself scored heavily in the frames he won: he made breaks of 93, 92 and 120!
The Tempodrom crowd was spoiled last night! I know it’s a lot of work for the fitters and it would probably complicate the work of the TV crew, but moving the Tempodrom to a “two tables setup” for the quarter finals would be great for the fans and the players. Hawkins and Wu were on table two and played a match of exceptional quality that probably could be truly appreciated only by a fraction of the fans. those sat nearby.
2025 WSF News
Today we will also have the final of the 2025 WSF Championship.
Malta’s Brian Cini and China’s Gao Yang will face off on Saturday afternoon in the final of the 2025 World Snooker Federation Championship (WSF) final in Saïdia, Morocco.
The winner of the best-of-nine frame title match will earn the prestigious title and a two-year World Snooker Tour (WST) tour card.
Both Cini and Gao, along with losing semi-finalists Mateusz Baranowski of Poland and Northern Ireland’s Fergal Quinn, have also confirmed their places in the 2025 World Snooker Championship qualifying rounds in April by reaching the last four.
The final will take place at 14:00 local time (GMT +1) and can be watched live on the WPBSA YouTube channel and WSF Facebook page.
Brian Cini – Route to the Final
3-1 vs. Hassan Gull (Group Stages)
3-1 vs. Harvey Chandler (Group Stages)
3-0 vs. Nikita Bazilevics (Group Stages)
3-0 vs. Mahjoub Tawdi (Group Stages)
4-3 vs. Sean O’Sullivan (Last 64)
4-1 vs. Aidan Murphy (Last 32)
4-2 vs. Daniel Womersley (Last 16)
4-0 vs. Umut Dikme (Quarter-Finals)
4-0 vs. Mateusz Baranowski (Semi-Finals)
Brian Cini has already made history this week by becoming the first player from Malta to reach the final of any WSF event and is now just one victory away from ensuring that his country is once again represented among the professional ranks.
The 28-year-old has been in impressive form throughout, securing impressive victories over two former professional and dropping just eight frames in nine matches en route to the final.
He stormed through the group phase in dominant fashion, picking up a clean sweep of victories, before coming through his toughest test of the event against England’s Sean O’Sullivan.
Cini led 2-0 and 3-2 in the best-of-seven frame match but was made to battle as O’Sullivan rallied multiple times to force a deciding frame that went down to a respotted black.
Ultimately, it was the man from Malta who potted it to get over the line and he then overcame the English duo of Aidan Murphy and Daniel Womersley to reach the penultimate day of the event.
On Friday, Cini was in imperious form and he did not drop a single frame as he whitewashed Germany’s Umut Dikme in the quarter-finals before sweeping aside Poland’s Matuesz Baranowski in just 82 minutes to reach the final of snooker’s biggest amateur event for the first time in his career.
Gao Yang – Route to the Final
3-0 vs. Harry Flower (Group Stages)
3-0 vs. Mourad Naitali (Group Stages)
3-1 vs. Sybren Sokolowski (Group Stages)
3-2 vs. Mateusz Baranowski (Group Stages)
4-0 vs. Salaheddine Ktila (Last 64)
4-0 vs. Qadeer Abbas (Last 32)
4-1 vs. Patrick Whelan (Last 16)
4-2 vs. Stuart Watson (Quarter-Finals)
4-2 vs. Fergal Quinn (Semi-Finals)
Gao Yang is into a second consecutive WSF Championship final and remains on course to become the first player in history to win both the WSF Junior and WSF Open Championship titles.
The 20-year-old lifted the 2020 WSF Junior crown by defeating Sean Maddocks 5-2 in the final in Hamrun, Malta before reaching the title match of last year’s open event in Golem, Albania.
Twelve months ago, Gao was defeated 5-0 in the final by Hong Kong China’s Ka Wai Cheung and so the Chinese former professional will be looking to go one better this time around.
A clean sweep of victories in the group phase, which included a success against eventual fellow semi-finalist Mateusz Baranowski, saw Gao through to the knockout stages and he then advanced further with back-to-back whitewash wins against host nation cuest Salaheddine Ktila and Qadeer Abbas from Pakistan.
A 4-1 win against England’s Patrick Whelan saw Gao into the penultimate day of the competition where he then faced Stuart Watson.
Gao did not have things all his own way on the Friday, but the tournament high break of 140 and another century contribution of 115 helped the man from China to a 4-2 victory over Watson to reach the semi-finals.
There he faced Northern Ireland’s Fergal Quinn, who had fought through a decider against Florian Nuessle in the previous round. On Friday evening, Gao raced into a 3-1 lead before his opponent rallied and looked on course to force a final frame shoot out.
Gao created an opportunity to win the match, however, and impressively held his nerve to clear the table and get over the line by a single point to set up a final meeting with Brian Cini on Saturday afternoon.
The WSF Championship final takes place on Saturday 1 February at 14:00 local time (GMT +1) and can be watched live on the WPBSA YouTube channel and WSF Facebook page.
Both have been pros before. It should be a good game but, obviously, there will be nerves!
Ronnie O'Sullivan 