Yesterday, again, I had little time for the snooker … life is definitely coming in the way of it right now. I didn’t watch any of the matches, so can’t comment on them, but here is what happened on the baize as reported by WST and snooker.org:
2025 Players Championship – 20 March 2025- reports by WST
Robertson Sets Up Wilson Showdown
Robertson scored a sensational victory in the opening event of the Players Series 11 days ago. The Australian whitewashed Stuart Bingham 10-0 in the World Grand Prix final in Hong Kong to capture the 25th ranking title of his career and second of the season, following the BetVictor English Open.
Prior to these wins, the Melbourne cueman’s ranking was plummeting and he was facing another trip to Crucible qualifying, having dropped to 26th in the world ahead of the English Open. Robertson now finds himself 11th in the Johnstone’s Paint World Rankings and is assured of a place in the final stages of the upcoming World Championship.
Robertson met Bingham once again in the opening round this week, but it was a far closer encounter this time around. He needed to rally from 3-1 down to score a 6-4 victory.
Today’s contest saw Robertson extend his impressive head-to-head lead over Selby to 19-9. Leicester’s four-time World Champion Selby will now turn his attention to the series finale in Manchester at the Sportsbet.io Tour Championship.
Despite Selby crafting a stunning 139, it was Robertson who took three of the first four frames to lead 3-1 at the mid-session interval.
When play got back underway, Robertson enhanced his lead with a break of 72 to make it 4-1.
Selby replied with 88 in the sixth, with Robertson then making 99 in the seventh to move one away at 5-2. He was pegged back in the next frame, but Robertson got over the line in the ninth to emerge a comfortable 6-3 victor.
“There wasn’t a big flurry of breaks in the match, but Mark is someone who is hard to get chances out of. He isn’t going to play loose shots and leave you in the balls, you really need to earn it,” said 43-year-old Robertson. “Mark and I have played each other an awful lot over the years. I think I’ve faced him more than any other player. We’ve had a lot of big matches against each other in our careers.
“You need to stand up and be counted (against Kyren Wilson). It is as simple as that. He plays very aggressively. I don’t think either one of us will step down at any point in the match, we are both going to really go for it.
“I love the way he plays the game. I’ve always admired him. When he used to come and practise with Joe Perry I thought he could have a wonderful career. He works so hard and has been a brilliant World Champion. He has shown how you should conduct yourself in the following season after winning the World Championship.”
Trump Storms To Telford Semis
World number one Judd Trump blitzed to 6-0 demolition of Johnstone’s Paint Masters champion Shaun Murphy at the Sportsbet.io Players Championship in Telford.
It was an evening of total dominance for Trump, who scored 524 points to Murphy’s 40. The Ace in the Pack took just one hour and 26 minutes to complete the win, averaging 18 seconds per shot.
The devastating victory sees him extend his winning streak over Murphy to their last seven matches. The Ace in the Pack now leads the head-to-head standings 18-9. Next up Trump will face either John Higgins or Xiao Guodong in last four.
Trump has landed silverware at the inaugural Saudi Arabia Snooker Masters this season, as well the UK Championship. Ahead of this event, he had already amassed £1,375,600 in prize money for the season.
Murphy can take solace from securing a vital opening round win over Barry Hawkins. That has secured him his qualification for the final stages of the World Championship, which was under threat for much of the season.
Trump produced a break building masterclass, crafting runs of 77, 101, 65, 66 and 55 on his way to the quickfire win. The century run moves Trump to 89 centuries for the season and takes him closer to hunting down the target of 100, which would come with a £100,000 bonus.
“Shaun has been a different animal this season, so when you beat him you take more credit than maybe you used to. He is an amazing player and to beat anyone 6-0 at this level is incredibly hard,” said 30-time ranking event winner Trump.
“He didn’t do a lot wrong. The first frame was incredibly important. He missed a couple of balls in that and got punished. I was full of confidence, he was struggling a little bit and everything was going in for me.
“You just want to carry on when you are playing like that. You are in the zone. I felt like I was playing slow and taking my time but when I came off the table my shot time was quite quick.
“I’ve been consistent all season. I’ve put myself in position in most tournaments I’ve played in. It is nice to know that form is still there coming into the final straight. I know my game is good enough to win any tournament but it is good to back that up for a whole season. Whoever comes through it will be a tough semi-final though.”
As for the EBSA … all the results are on snooker.org
At the time of writing, the quarter-finals are underway with 14 years old Michal Szubarczyk still competing.
Addendum Michal has won his quarter-final…
and…
Ronnie O'Sullivan 